


Fly Away With Me

by omnomeevee



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26236267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omnomeevee/pseuds/omnomeevee
Summary: A bunch of works that are all with in the same little universe.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Original Female Character(s), Dong Si Cheng| WinWin/Phoenix Reynard, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kiara Skye, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Original Female Character(s), Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lyn Anh Lee, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Original Female Character(s), Lee Taeyong/Athena Rae, Mark Lee (NCT)/Original Female Character(s), Mark Lee (NCT)/Serenity Wildes, Moon Taeil/Grace Lucette, Moon Taeil/Original Female Character(s), Seo Youngho | Johnny/Cordelia Marino, Seo Youngho | Johnny/Original Female Character(s), Taeyong/Original Female Character(s)





	1. Serendipity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seren would have never guessed that these embarrassing encounters with one particular boy would turn out to be a fortunate happenstance or even a pleasant surprise.

The first time they ran into each other was by a total whim.

Normally, Seren would go home and eat whatever she had laying around. Seren or Nix would cook and the rest of they would pick off of that for a few days. Today though, she decided to go and have lunch. There was a small little taco place she hadn’t tried and she was craving it. So, she went in and stood in line. There were few people there, but the guy in front of her seemed to be ordering a whole lot. Tall, with a mop of messy blonde hair, he kept ordering for what seemed like 10 minutes. When Seren stood up at the counter, only ordering for herself, she grabbed her can of pop and sat down, waiting for her number to be called. She had drawn the world around her out and tapped on the top of her pop, hoping that it would be settled enough to open.

To her dismay, it was not and she hadn’t anticipated it. She jumped back, holding the can out far away from her. As she turned around, the fizz splashed from the top and on to this tall, blonde boy who was just getting ready to walk out of the door. His white shirt now stained with a light orange.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Oh my god.” She can’t bare to look up at the boy, as her face is flushed red. She sets the now half empty can down on the table and grabs all the napkins she can, handing some to this poor guy, who she was almost positive was going to say something rude to her the second she stopped acting like a spaz. She went to try and dap his shirt for him, feeling terrible.

The boy laughed, swatting her hand away. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I was headed home anyways.”

Seren’s shoulders dropped as she relaxed a bit. She looked up at him, looking into big brown eyes. “Really, I’m so sorry.” she muttered.

“Really, don’t worry about it.” He called to her as he rushed out the door, smiling from ear to ear.

Seren’s number was called, and instead of staying and eating, she decided to go home after all.

The next time, Mark was free for a small amount of time and decided to take a run. It was a bright, sunny day and he popped his headphones in and just jogged to his heart's content. Normally, he’d go to the park but he didn’t have the time to do it today, so he ran the not so busy sidewalks on the side streets.

Seren normally walked to work on the nice days. It was easier to walk from house to house then to get in the car, start it up and then get out and do it all over again. She too put headphones in and paid more mind to the pretty sights around her. Humming along to some songs as she did small little moments that might be able to be called dancing if she wasn’t walking. The wind blows softly and the trees swayed with it. The sun would fade in and out behind clouds. It was warm, but if you weren’t doing anything too busy, it was bearable. Foolishly, Seren closed her eyes for a second as she walked.

Mark kept his pace as he turned the corner, having broken a sweat in the heat. Seren is knocked back into reality by coming face first with his chest. Mark stumbles back and runs his hand through his hair. Seren looks up, and realizes who she just ran into. She falls into herself a bit, having a bit of a flashback of their first meeting. She feels her face go red again, reliving it. Of course, out of all people, it’s him again. Like she wasn’t embarrassed enough the first time.

A smile writes itself all over Mark’s face. Toothy, his cheek bones seem to get more proximate. His eyes shone in the sunlight. Seren catches herself staring a bit, and shakes her head coming back to. “Nice running into you again.” He confidently spits out, knowing how cheesy he sounds. Seren is almost positive he can see her face twisted into a cringe. She lets out a sigh, agreeing with him in the end, even though she can’t help but feel the heat run up her neck. He looks as if he’s going to say something more until his phone rings. “I’m sorry, I’ve gotta take this.” He says, turning around and talking in a fast, hushed voice in Korean as he walks away. Seren watches him turn around and wave at her, signaling that he’s got to go.

She catches herself laughing every time she walks past that corner for the next week on her way to the houses she dog sits for.

Seren picks up a few more hours at a retail job she has, so she cuts down her dog walking hours. This means, instead of walking 2 dogs at a time, she’s now walking 6 just to manage to squeeze them all in. She’s not worried about it as she walks through the small town she’s in. The dogs all walk pretty well and listen, most of the time. One of the clients has a particularly rambunctious and large puppy, so the pup is still learning and Seren figures being with five other well behaved dogs might serve the pup well, so she agrees to take him on her busy walk.

With so many dogs, the leashes inevitability get tangled around. Seren lets it slide until she gets to the more open park. She twists around and untangled all she can, not paying attention around her. The rambunctious, not so little guy is hopping around until he locks on a small animal scampering across the grass. Before Seren has the chance to notice, the dog runs off, taking Seren and the other dogs with him. There’s no way this nearly five foot girl can stop these dogs so she has no choice but to hold on and “enjoy” the ride.

She can see three guys at the basketball court look at the comotion of her being dragged. The tallest one of the three lets out an involuntary laugh that catches the attention of a few of the dogs and the direction in which Seren is running is changed; directly towards this group of guys. She tries her hardest to stop them, but it's no use. The dogs, unsure of who made the noise, run right to the first one they see. Seren’s heart drops as she is now entangled with someone and she knows exactly who it is. “Jesus Christ not again..” Seren whispers to herself.

Mark laughs and she can feel it through his shirt. She panics again, realizing how close she is to this guy. He tries to untangle himself as his friends giggle behind him. The tall one can’t stop and the slightly shorter of the two isn’t helping either as Seren tries to pull away from Mark, who has taken a few of the leashes in his hands and hands them to her. He shoots a look at his friends and before he can say anything to Seren, she is off, trying to get away from the situation.

“I’ll probably see you around!” Mark calls out to her as she walks away, laughing to himself. The tall one lets out an obnoxious screech as Mark says it.

A few days after the dog incident, Seren enlists her best friend to go with her to get everyone a drink from starbucks before they come over, and Cordelia relauntly agrees. As they're standing around waiting for their order, they hear it get called and a tall boy with dark hair grabs it before rushing out the door. Seren watches in confusion, knowing that that was their order and not his. As he walks past the window, Seren realizes who it was and grabs Cordy’s arm without saying a word and walks out the coffee shop.

“Ren, we didn’t get our drinks…” She blurts out, trying to pull seren back.

“Yes, I know, because he has them…” Seren points a bit, trying to not make it obvious.

“Star, we can't just follow him.. For coffee… We’ll just order again.” Cordelia scolds Seren for the strange behavior, trying to be quiet.

“No, no, you don’t get it. That's him. The one I keep running into.” Seren whispers back.

“No fucking way, what’s his name?”

“I've got no clue! But he’s cute and it’s intimidating.” Seren covers her mouth when she says it, realizing she was a bit loud. Her eyes go wide as she stares back and forth between Cordelia and the back of this boy's head. Especially since I keep running into him, literally, she thinks. She nearly stops in her tracks and bolts in the opposite direction, but she doesn’t have the time to.

Mark smiles before he turns around. “I’m sorry, can I help you?” He flashes a smile at Seren and her face flushes. He heard them talking.

“Uh, um..” Seren stammers, unable to think of what to say.

“Those are our coffees…” Cordy is able to say, pointing.

“Oh, my bad. I was just in a rush. Take them, I’ve gotta run back and get the right ones..” He walks past them. “Thanks for catching up to me! You saved me an extra trip!” He's walking backwards and, as if on cue, trips over his own feet. He catches himself and hurries off.

“Oh good god he’s as clumsy as you.” Cordy says as they walk in the opposite direction.

At this point, Seren is now nervous just about anytime she goes out because it’s like some weird force keeps making her and this one particular person run into each other. So when it’s her turn to go to the store for the week, she has to have a pep talk with herself before hand. There’s absolutely no way that he would just so happen to be at the store the same day and time as her.

The shopping goes smoothly and there’s no awkward run ins. Unfortunately though, Seren is short. Sometimes, things are a bit too far up for her to reach, and because she's too stubborn to ask for help, she just climbs up. She’s never had an issue before and sees no difference in today.

Mark has his hands in his pockets as he goes to look and see the price for something that his friend forgot to check. As he walks down the aisle, he sees a new familiar face. He stops, settling himself back to watch and see what Seren is doing. He shakes his head as a smile pulls at his lips. His shoes click as he walks towards her and he peeked his head around to look at her. “Would you like some help?” He asks softly.

Seren was oblivious to him, so hearing his voice startled her. In the process, she loses her balance. She tries to grab on to something and much to her panicked surprise, of course the boxes of cereal are no help. As she comes falling down, so do several rows of cereal. Mark tries to catch her but isn’t expecting the whole thing so he isn’t able to. Seren lands on her butt, and glares up at Mark as she settles among the mess.

Mark offers his hand to help her up off the floor. Seren shyily takes it. His hand lingers for a second before he lets go. “Thanks a lot…” She stops, realizing after all these times, she’s never bothered to ask him his name. “What's your name?”

“Mark.”

“Thanks a lot Mark.” She says, sarcastically, glancing around the mess she made because of him. Seren dusts herself off and sheepishly goes to talk to a worker to tell them about the mess. When Seren turns around, Mark isn’t there anymore. Mark looks around before he walks off and laughs to himself. He remembers that he didn't catch her name after he’s already gone.

About a week goes by and Seren hasn’t run into this Mark guy. For whatever reason, Seren was a bit sad about it. Having a name to a face now made it seem like there was even more of a reason why they continued to cross paths. She kept the feeling to herself, but her friend’s still asked her everyday if there had been a new run in with him. The few places they had run in with one another hadn’t failed to make her giggle a bit thinking about it. But as she stands in front of a cute little restaurant waiting for Athena, she forgets about Mark for a little while.

From inside the restaurant, Mark is sitting at a table with his friends from the basketball incident and two others. When he looks up from his meal, he smacks his tallest friend’s arm as he realizes Seren outside. “Johnny, What do I do?” He spats out, keeping a watch on where Seren is swaying around to.

“Go talk to her?” His other friend says from across the table.

“Ty, I’m nervous dude,” Mark says, glancing at all his friends.

“Why are you nervous?” Johnny speaks with his mouth half full.

“Because everytime I talk to see her, something ridiculous happens. This time will be no different, I’m sure.” His other friend snorts as he’s eating his food, remembering the dog’s getting tangled around the two of them. “Sicheng, shut up.”

“You really should just talk to her..” The last and final friend at the table speaks up. “If something ridiculous happens again you have six things to talk about on you first date.”

“Doyoung,” Mark slumps into his chair, “I don’t even know her name.”

“You what?” Sicheng snorts again, this time almost losing his food.

Mark whacks his arm this time, glaring at him. “I just never had the chance to ask her, okay?”

“Go ask her for her name and her number, you idiot.” Sicheng says, rubbing his hand across his arm where Mark hit him.

Mark pushes himself out of his chair and heads towards the door.

Meanwhile, Seren spots her friend across the street and is trying to motion her towards her. One hand holding her phone, the other free, she waves them around. She’s not paying any attention behind her, which she should have been. Mark is a few steps behind her, trying to work up the courage to talk to her again. He clenches his fists and takes a deep breath before he walks up towards her.

Seren is still trying to get Athena’s attention, waving her hands around still. As Seren starts to give up and throws her hands down, she hits Mark upside the head. In that moment, Athena finds Seren and as Seren’s eyes widen, Athena covers her mouth with a laugh. Seren shuts her eyes as she turns around. “I am so sorry..” She says before she opens her eyes again. Mark is rubbing his forehead, one eye shut but he still cracks a smile.

“I was just about to say this was going too smoothly..” He laughs out.

“Jesus Christ, I’m so sorry. It doesn’t hurt does it?” Seren looks at the spot, knowing she hit him with her phone.

“I’ll be alright.” He tips his head as she looks down at her feet, scuffing her foot along the ground. “Really… What is your name? I’ve never asked..” Mark speaks up, dipping his head down to look at her face.

“Oh… Serenity..” She looks up, “But most people call me Seren.” Athena pops up next to her as she finishes her sentence. Mark lifts his hand up to wave and turns his attention back to Seren.

“Really, Seren, it’s okay.” He continues.

“I am sorry though, Mark.. Is there anything I can do to make it better?” Seren leans back on her foot, biting the inside of her lip.

Mark smiled at the fact she remembered his name, then thinks of the cheesiest thing and can’t talk himself out of saying it. “Yes, there is actually..” Seren raises her eyebrow in response. “Can I have your number?”

Seren looks down as she smiles and Athena makes an auditable noise as she walks off from the conversation towards the restaurant to get a seat. They exchange numbers and stand for a while before Seren excuses herself to go to lunch. Mark laughs as he follows behind her, knowing that he is also here for lunch. Before she can open the door, he grabs it for her and holds it. “Oh jesus Christ…” Seren blurts out. “You’re eating here too?”

“Was here before you..” He points to his friends, two of which she recognizes, as they wave back.

Athena leans over the table when she sits down and talks quietly to her. “I don’t know what it is about you and that guy but go figure he knows that really cute guy… Like, you guys are a fucking oddity in the universe.”

Seren smiles as she looks over, to catch Mark already glancing at her. “Maybe I can tell you who he is at some point.. I feel like I’ll be running into Mark again very soon.”


	2. Broken Pipes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena calls for help when her kitchen floods. She is at a lose for words when she answers the door to see who came to help her.

Athena sat, stressing over the piece she was writing, the constant dripping of the sink only making her headache worse. “Oh my fucking god.” She grips at her hair as she ran her fingers through. Resting her elbow on the table, she pressed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

“Oh that’s fucking it.” She pushed the laptop away from her and stomped to the kitchen. It had been dripping for too long. She crawled underneath the counter and twisted the small nozzle to stop the water flow.

One twist.

Two.

Three.

Snap.

Water rushed out on her face as she scrambled to get out from under the sink, knocking her head as she does. “Oh , you've got to be kidding me.” She lets out a long, drawn out sigh as the puddle reaches her feet. She doesn’t even bother to try and clean up the mess after she gets back from downstairs and turning off the water main. “Oh, Dubu… really…” She closes her eyes, seeing her dog walking in the water. Picking him up, she went upstairs to call Seren.

On the second ring, she picks up. “What’s up, Na?”

“My kitchen is flooded.”

“What? How?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, do you know if one of the guys can help me?”

“Um.. Yeah. I’ll call Mark-”

“Oh god he can’t fix it, I know he can’t.”

“I.. wasn’t calling him to come and fix it.. I’m sure he’ll know who to ask.”

“Oh, well, thank you.” Athena clicks the phone and curls in her bed, Dubu crawling up to her and plopping down. She drifts to sleep for a few hours, only to be woken up by the phone ringing. She flutters her eyes open, blinking to make the name clearer though her sleepy eyes. “Hello..?”

“Taeyong will be there in a little bit to help with the.. flooding.”

“O..Okay..” She tosses the phone back down on the bed, forcing herself to lay on her back. “Which one is Taeyong again?” questions Dubu, who is still sleeping. Getting up, she fixes her hair a bit and throws on something a little more presentable. She decided that she needs to clean up some of the water, just so no one hurts themselves. A light knock on the door might have gone unnoticed had she not been paying attention.

Athena wished she had remembered which one Taeyong was in her sleepy state, but when she opened the door, it was too late. Her eyes widened a bit as he stared back at her from the door frame. “Athena?” He questioned. The light wind tousled his hair, his eyebrows slightly raises, his eyes searching her face.

She tried to say a simple yes, but when she opened her mouth, nothing came out. Just a small breath escaped, nearly catching itself before. Say something, she thought, Oh come on you, you can at least say one word. But, she couldn’t, so she just resolved to nodding. Taeyong smiled to himself, tipping his head. “Can you… Show me where the problem is?” He laughed, as she nodded and moved aside to let him in the house. She closed the door behind her, taking a deep breathe before she turned around, to catch her wits. The words “over here” got stuck in her throat, his puppy like eyes scanning the room around him. He’s even prettier up close, she thought. Shaking her head, she walked past him, motioning him with her hand to follow her.

She had decided, on no whim of her own, that she just was going to play mute. Because every time she looked at him, he took her breath away, literally. There wasn’t even any use in trying.

Seeing the mess the kitchen was, puddles of water still there, Taeyong let out a chuckle. “So, what happened?”

Athena went over and grabbed the nozzle that snapped off, showing it to him with a pout. He nodded, setting down a bag of tools he had brought and digging through them. Grabbing a handful of things, we went underneath and started to get to work.

Athena stood around, aimlessly watching him as he did. The way he knew exactly what to do was attractive. She didn’t know whether or not he noticed she was still around as he hummed to himself, drowning out the clinks of him hitting the pipes. Athena let out a longing sign. Great, he was beautiful, could probably sing well, knew how to do handy work and she couldn’t say anything. She was embarrassed. She figured it was a bit strange to be standing there, only being able to see half of his body, but she couldn’t complain about that either. She shook her head and he popped his head out and looked at her. He held a flash light between his lips and grabbed it with two fingers so he could say something.

“You don’t mind if I talk, do you?” he spoke low, and Athena could feel her face heat up. She shook her head.

He nodded, laughing before he went back to work. Na sat down at her small kitchen table and listened to him. He told her about some of his favorite foods and the last movie he had seen, avoiding any spoilers in case she hadn’t seen it yet. He let her know what his favorite color was, and how he had dyed his hair a few different colors as well. That he loved dogs and that he wanted to work to better the lives of animals. Athena enjoyed listening to him, not just because his voice was nice, but because he was interesting.

He rambles about his friends, how they had all met. He mentioned how him and Mark we’re in the process of moving in with Johnny. Athena had met Mark several times now, and only really knew Johnny from all the talk Cordelia did about him. He mentioned how he liked that Seren had met Mark in a weird way. He also said he remembered seeing Athena at the restaurant that day, not knowing that she was Seren’s friend until she sat down with her. “You guys seemed awful quiet, not how I know Seren is now. She’s always laughing.” Athena’s face flushed realizing he had seen her. She wondered if that meant he was looking at her at some point. “I had planned to introduce myself, actually. But didn’t want to interrupt your lunch.” He sits up and looks at her, and Athena gets another good look at him.

His cut off shirt clung to him, but it wasn’t too tight. His hair still looked flawless, even after he had been underneath the sink for a while. He cracked a smile before he stood up. “I’ve gotta grab something else really fast, I’ll be back in a second.” He slips out of the door and Athena jumps up, ready to hide herself in her room but she knows better. She grabbed her phone to dial Seren. Before Seren could even say anything, Athena started, “You couldn’t have reminded me that Taeyong was the hot one?” She whispered into the phone.

“He’s there?” Seren laughs on the other side of the line.

“Don’t laugh! And yes, but he’s grabbing something.”

“That was fast.”

“Don’t change the subject! I forgot how to talk! This is embarrassing!”

“What? Why did you do that?”

“He’s pretty!” Athena says, a bit louder this time. “I wasn’t exactly expecting this pretty guy to walk up to my front door and have to welcome him in my house.” She paced into the front room from the dining room, peering out of the window to check and make sure he was still busy. He was, fumbling around in his trunk, clearly not sure where something was. “He was humming, he knows what he’s doing and he asked if he could talk while he worked. Ren, I haven’t said a word to him and I have no idea how to fix this.”

“Just talk?”

“It’s not that easy!” She was now talking in her normal voice, at full volume. It felt weird after having not said anything for so long. “From the moment he looked at me I just shut up. He’s got these soft puppy eyes and this contrasting voice. He smiled at me several times, his laugh is cute. He’s cute. He said he remembers seeing me at the restaurant and that was before you sat with me so it wasn’t even like he was watching you and Mark walk in. He said that he was going to introduce himself but didn’t want to interrupt. He’s sweet. He showed up at my house in a freaking cut off shirt. Seren, his arms- Oh... shit.” As Athena was rambling, she must have drown out the sound of the door opening again. When she turned, Taeyong stood there, a big smile on his face and laughed. “I gotta go, Ren.” She clicked the phone off and awkwardly smiled.

Taeyong just went back to working and when he finished he went a talked to Athena. Her dog jumped up and sat at his feet, as he bent down to pet him. “You know.. Maybe you and I can go out sometime.” Taeyong starts, now looking at Dubu and not Athena. Athena can hear her heartbeat pick up and she just nodded again.

She shook her head, “That sounds great. Maybe I.. Maybe I’ll actually talk then…” She mumbled.

“Perfect.” He got up, making his way towards the door. Athena followed to let him out. When he walked out, he turned around to look at her. “Maybe I’ll pretend I can’t talk that time around.” He said, as he walked off, smiling to himself.


	3. Trick up your sleeves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taeyong didn't know why it felt like it was right for him to be going and helping someone he didn't know until she opened the door.

The apartment is filled with packed boxes as they write down the words “Mark’s room” on the boxes they had just taped up. Seren sits down on the bed as Mark grabs the marker from Cordelia. “Really, thank you guys for coming and helping pack up. It was getting tiring doing it with just Taeyong and I.”

“It’s no big deal.” Cord says, now sitting next to Seren. The two of them look at each other as they hear a phone ringing. “It’s not mine,” Cordelia said.

“Not mine!” Mark exhales it out like a sigh, showing his phone as he falls back on the ground, tired.

Seren then got up, nearly stumbling over Mark, who messes with her feet as she walks by, in the process and answers her phone. “What’s up, Na?”

“My kitchen is flooded.”

“What? How?” Cordelia and Mark looked at her, growing in concern. She shook her head letting them know nothing was seriously wrong.

“I don’t want to talk about it, do you know if one of the guys can help me?”

“Um.. Yeah. I’ll call Mark-” Seren started, putting her finger up to her lips to hush a confused Mark and Cor.

“Oh god he can’t fix it, I know he can’t.”

“I.. wasn’t calling him to come and fix it.. I’m sure he’ll know who to ask.”

“Oh, well, thank you.” Athena clicks the phone and Seren laughs a bit. “So, Athena’s kitchen is flooded… I think the sink finally gave out on her.”

“Oh no, poor lovebug..” Cordelia says.

“Why did you say you’d call me?” Mark looked at Seren, motioning his hands along his body to say he’s standing there, confused.

“Because I have an idea..”

Both Cordelia and Mark looked at her, not catching on. She waited a minute as the other two exchanged looks, seeing if they could figure it out. “Ren, I don’t get it.” Mark shook his head.

“Yeah, no. What do you mean?” Cordelia scratched her head, Seren wasn’t sure if it was on purpose or as a joke.

“Taeyong.”

“What?” The two of them look even more confused until Mark gets it. “OH! Oh you’re evil but like, he hasn’t shut up about her since he saw her.”

“You’re one to talk Mark.” Cordelia pesters, as she looks back and forth, trying to catch on still. “Wait, you mean Taeyong likes Na?” She finally spits out.

“Yes.” Mark and Seren say at the same time.

“Oh that’s evil. I love it.” Cordelia says. “Also, you guys are cute.” She winks at a now flustered Seren. “So, plan?”

“Simple, we tell him to go fix it for her.” Seren says, squinting her eyes and shrugging her shoulders.

“He’s been pretty tired though, moving stuff back and forth.” Mark sort of half pouts. “I’m not sure how up for it he’d be.”

“Tell him it’s Athena.” Cordelia says.

“He hasn’t like, met met her though.” Seren looks at Cordelia and Cord shakes her head.

“Then why does he keep talking about her? If he hasn’t met her?”

“He say her at the restaurant, the day Seren whacked me in the face with her phone.” Mark chimes in.

“Stop, don’t bring it up.” Seren’s face lifts and Mark sticks his tongue out at her teasingly.

“Okay, you two can continue flirting later, back to the point. Do we get him to do it?” Cordelia laughs as the two of them blush.

“Yes, of course we do!” They set out a plan, waiting for Taeyong to get home to ask. In the meantime they scramble around trying to make sure there isn’t anything for Taeyong to do when he gets home. Cordelia does the vacuuming, Mark and Ren tackle the dishes together, Seren washing and Mark drying and putting away. Mark cleans up the left over laundry and separates it, putting a load in the wash. Cordelia cooks food for them all and they sit down, waiting for him to come home.

All of them turn to Taeyong when he walks in and he scans the room. “You guys cleaned?”

“Yes, yes we did.” Mark says, stifling a laugh.

“Yongie~” Seren’s voice pitched up a bit when she said his name and he knew she wanted something. She smiled as he dropped his belongs down on the small entrance able.

Taeyong looks at Mark. “What does she want and why is she asking me and not you?” Mark laughs as he looks down.

“Her friend Athena’s got a busted pipe, it sounds like. You think you can help her?” Mark goes on to ignore Taeyong’s other question.

“Yeah. Just let me change?” He starts to walk off before Cordelia calls him.

“Wear a cutoff shirt or something! It gets hot at Na’s house!”

Seren calls Athena to let him know that Taeyong is on his way and soon enough, without much questioning, Taeyong leaves.

“How do you think it’ll go?” Cordelia asks.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Seren says back.

When Taeyong gets there, he knocks lightly and waits for a bit. Normally, he wouldn't go and help someone he’s never met, but he felt like there was a reason why he was supposed to come here. When the door opened he understood. “Athena?” He questioned. He could see the hitch in her breathing when she looks at him. He can’t help but raise his eyebrows at her as he studied her face. She looked prettier up close. She nodded in response to him. Taeyong smiled to himself, tipping his head. “Can you… Show me where the problem is?” He laughed, as she nodded and moved aside to let him in the house. He took a second to look around as she closed the door. It was a small house, so he figured she lived by herself. He smiled to himself as she walked past him, motioning him with her hand to follow her.

Seeing the mess the kitchen was, puddles of water still there, Taeyong let out a chuckle. “So, what happened?” When she showed him the broken nozzle, he nodded. Quickly, he got to work. He could feel how nervous Athena was. Or was it him? Either way, he started to hum to ease his mind a bit. He’s only drawn out of his thoughts by a long sigh she lets out. he popped his head out and looked at her. He held a flash light between his lips and grabbed it with two fingers so he could say something.

“You don’t mind if I talk, do you?” he spoke low, and he can see Athena’s face turn a dark red as she nods. He nodded, laughing before he went back to work. He realizes he didn’t know what to talk about before he said it so he just rambled on about whatever came to his head. His favorite foods, movies, his favorite color and how many times he had dyed his hair, his love for animals. He was hopeful that she didn’t find it strange for him to be telling her so much. He talked about his friends, Mark and Seren meeting. Then he mentioned he remembered seeing Athena at the restaurant that day, not knowing that she was Seren’s friend until she sat down with her. “You guys seemed awful quiet, not how I know Seren is now. She’s always laughing.” He remembered how pretty Athena had looked when she would laugh. He hoped that he would be able to hear her laugh one day. “I had planned to introduce myself, actually. But didn’t want to interrupt your lunch.” He sits up and looks at her, and he sees she’s already looking at him. He cracked a smile before he stood up. “I’ve gotta grab something else really fast, I’ll be back in a second.” He slips out of the door and to his car. But, in reality, he just needed to take a second to clear his head. He didn’t know if it was going to be awkward, but he wanted to ask her out. As he pretended to rummage for something he needed.

As he walks back up to the house and he can hear talking. He stood outside for a second and tried to make out her voice, before slowly opening the door and walking in. He smiles, realizing she’s sitting and rambling about him on the phone.

“From the moment he looked at me I just shut up. He’s got these soft puppy eyes and this contrasting voice. He smiled at me several times, his laugh is cute. He’s cute. He said he remembers seeing me at the restaurant and that was before you sat with me so it wasn’t even like he was watching you and Mark walk in. He said that he was going to introduce himself but didn’t want to interrupt. He’s sweet. He showed up at my house in a freaking cut off shirt. Seren, his arms- Oh shit.” His smile is wide, he can feel how big the smile is and laughed. “I gotta go, Ren.” She clicked the phone off and awkwardly smiled. He thought she looked cute when she was a bit embarrassed.

Taeyong just went back to working and when he finished he went a talked to Athena. He was a bit nervous, but figured nothing would have been as bad as Athena’s embarrassment. Her dog jumped up and sat at his feet, as he bent down to pet him. It was a good distraction from his heart beat picking up. “You know.. Maybe you and I can go out sometime.” Taeyong starts, now looking at Dubu and not Athena. He was unsure how she was going to react so he couldn’t look at her.

She shook her head, “I’m sorry. That sounds great. Maybe I.. Maybe I’ll actually talk then…” She mumbled.

“Perfect.” He got up, making his way towards the door. Athena followed to let him out. When he walked out, he turned around to look at her. “Maybe I’ll pretend I can’t talk that time around.” He said, as he walked off, smiling to himself.

He wouldn’t dare let anyone know how much his heart soared when she agreed.


	4. The Boys Next Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being friends for a while, Mark invites Seren and Cordelia to go with him and his new roommate to a carnival after a busy move. Seren doesn't know that him and Taeyong just moved in with Cordelia's neighbor until it's too late.

Seren jumps off her bed and stumbles over Blu. Nearly falling, she rushes to her phone on the other side of the room, trying to get the call before it ends. She reaches it on the last ring and picks up. “H--Hel- Hold on..” She starts.

“You good?” Mark’s confused voice echoes back over the speaker, as Seren catches her breath.

“Yup, just almost died, but I’m fine.”

“What do you mean, are you okay?” His voice jumped from confusion to concern, pitching up a bit.

“Yeah, yeah, tripped over Blu. What’s up, what’s the call for? I thought you were busy moving.”

Seren can almost hear Mark thinking through the phone. “Yeah, about that. We're settled and there’s a carnival going on. I was going to go up there with Johnny, but it figured it would be weird, two guys hanging out. I was gonna see if you and a friend wanted to come?” The question is long winded and he speaks fast, Seren almost didn’t catch it.

“I’ll see if Cord wants to go. We can meet you there?” Seren replies to him, already texting Cordelia to ask.

“Sounds great. See you in like, an hour and a half?”

“Yup, that should work.”

“Cool. Really excited to spend more time together. It’ll be fun!” Mark says before he clicks the phone.

Soon enough Cordelia shows up at Seren and Nix’s place, dressed comfy and with her hair thrown into a ponytail. Seren looks at her, wondering if she remembered they were actually going out and not sitting and watching movies at home.

“Yes, I know. But it’s hot and I want to be comfy. Shorts and a t-shirt is just fine.”

“Well duh, but you know Mark’s friends are all cute.. Right? What if you meet the love of you life tonight?”

“Doubt it. Not happening, fat chance. I’m gonna eat carnival food and not have a care in the world.”

“Okay, okay fine. Don’t say I didn't warn you.” Seren says, slipping her shoes on and walking out the door. The drive is short, and once they find parking, the walk is even shorter.

Mark’s head bops around as he keeps an eye out for them and he waves slowly when he sees them. Seren doesn’t recognize the tall friend too much, as the memory from the basketball court is pushed back into her brain so far she sometimes forgets it happened. Cordelia, on the other hand, would recognize the tall, handsome, dark haired neighbor of hers that she had been avoiding for what seemed like months at this point, absolutely anywhere. Mainly so she could run in the opposite direction.

“Seren, I can’t do this..” Cordelia mumbles, grabbing Seren’s arm. Seren looks at her with brows furrowed in confusion. “I can’t go over there..”

“I told you they were all handsome. Let’s go, he’s probably really nice.” Seren says, dragging Cor over there, no matter the fight she puts up. Cordelia knows he’s nice. Really, really nice. Too nice.

Mark greets Seren with a hug and Cordelia sinks into herself, hoping she can go unnoticed for a bit longer. She locks eyes with Johnny and he smiles, laughing a bit. Cordelia clenches her teeth and forces a smile at Mark when he turns his attention to her. “Hi, nice to finally meet you Cordelia. Ren talks about you a whole lot.”

Cord nods, almost blocking out the fact that Johnny is standing there. “Nice to meet you too, Mark.” She talks slowly, making Seren look at her a bit funny.

Mark gestures to Johnny, “This is Johnny. I know you’ve sort of met him Ren, but I doubt him and Cordelia have.”

Cordelia’s face runs pale at the comment and mutters out, “Yeah.. No we’ve met.. He’s my neighbor..”

Seren then puts the thought together. His is the neighbor. The handsome one that Cordelia accidentally thought was her dog. Her eyes dart from Cord to Johnny to see how it plays out.

“How you been? Long time, no see.” Johnny laughs, knowing very well what’s going through her head.

“Peachy. Great. Yup.” Cord’s voice has jumped a few notches upward.

“How’s your dog?” Seren starts to hold back laughs at this point, knowing what Cordelia had said while looking for Ruckus.

Cordelia lets out a high pitched, whimpered “He’s fine,” and Ren absolutely loses it.

She laughs, guiding them through the entrance, holding on to Cordelia’s arm so she can’t run away. Though a fit of laughter, Seren is able to pull Cord aside as the boys go and buy tickets to ride a few rides.

“Star I swear to god, shut the fuck up.” Cordelia girts through her teeth, glancing to make sure Johnny isn’t around. “He remembers me!”

“I KNOW!” Seren is nearly bent over in pain from how much it hurts to laugh.

“That’s it, you and Mark can’t date. I’ll fucking throw myself into on coming traffic.”

“Do you want Nix’s to DJ your funeral?”

“I hate you.”

“Not as much as you hate yourself for what you said to Johnny, your next door neighbor.”

“How do you always end up in these situations? Does Mark do goddamn voodoo or something?” Cord is in a frantic and Seren can’t help but laugh as the boys come back. Mark is lost, unsure why Cordelia is so embarrassed about being neighbors with Johnny. When Johnny joins the three of them, Cordelia shrinks into herself again, shooting a pleading “Get me out of here” look at Seren.

Mark tries to break the weird tension. “So, if you and Johnny are Neighbors, that means we're neighbors now..” He looks at Cordelia as we walk on to the fairgrounds.

“Oh..” Cordelia looks everywhere but at Mark and Johnny, taking in the sights, but really just avoiding making eye contact. “That’s gonna be.. Interesting... huh?” She forced a little laugh. Seren laughs to herself, pointing out a ride. Mark and Seren walk a bit ahead of Cordelia and Johnny, excitedly trying to decide what rides to go on. Cordelia just hopes that Seren and Mark manage to pick rides where they don’t have to pair off with one another. Oh god, she hopes they don’t have to pair off with one another.

The two pick out a way they’re going to get to a few rides, and throw in a few chances to play some games, per Mark’s request. There’s some small talk between three of them, but Cordelia only talks to Seren and Mark, Johnny has to address her before she pays attention. Every time he says her name, she can feel her stomach drop. It’s not long before they have to split up in pairs and Cor latches on to Seren. “She’s my riding buddy,” shooting Mark a look as he pouted a bit. “Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

On the ride, Cord can nearly strangle Seren. She knows she shouldn’t be nervous, but the fact that her first encounter with her neighbor was her calling him a ‘scrumptious boy’ on accident haunts her.

“Do you think Mark knows?” Cord questions.

“If he didn’t, I’m sure he just asked Johnny by now,” Seren raises her eyebrow at Cordelia.

In another part of the ride, Johnny is in fact telling a curious little Mark the whole story. In vivid, word for word, detail. He’s so dramatic he sets the scene: him, minding his business, watering his plants. How warm it was that day and the strange but sort of endearing voice she made as she called out to her dog. How when he found the dog, he couldn’t have laughed more seeing the small thing as the interaction came running back to his head. Mark held back a few laughs, but now realized how embarrassing it was for Cordelia, thinking back on how embarrassed Seren was all those times they ran into each other.

After the ride, Mark suggests playing a few games. Cordelia starts to settle a bit, seeing that Mark and Seren are being cute, laughing and having a playful banter about who will be better at the games when Johnny decides to try and talk to her.

“So,” He starts, as Cordelia flutters her eyes and takes a deep breath just to look at him, “weird how Mark ended up meeting your friend and now we get to meet again.”

“I sometimes wish I didn’t meet you the first time…” Cord deadpans, then realizes how shitty it sounded. “That’s totally not what I mean.”

Johnny flashes her a smile, the type that travels to the eyes and Cordelia can feel her heart skip for a second. “Well, I’m sort of glad we met that time,” He laughs, rubbing his neck shyly. He nods to Mark and Seren, as Seren points out a small stuffed animal from a random array of them. “When do you think they’ll start dating?”

“Ren and Mark?” Cord looks lovingly at her friend. “Soon, I’d like to think. I know Seren likes him a lot.” Seren comes skipping with a small little puppy stuffie and presents it to Cord and Johnny.

“Tada!” She says in a baby voice, shutting her eyes as she smiles.

“You won?” Cordelia asks.

“No, she did not.” Mark pops his head out from behind Seren, doing a small little victory dance. They all laugh at Seren’s pout and side eye at Mark.

“I’m hungry,” She changes the subject off her loss.

Mark points at the ferris wheel, leaning on Johnny for a second, who nods in unison to Mark’s finger waggle. Seren and Cordelia looked at each other, both feeling a different sense of panic.The boys grab the girls arms and take them over to the line. Cordelia has a sign of relief when she sees Johnny gently grabs Seren’s arm and not hers. She has another one when she realizes the four of them can ride together. But then wide eyes when she sees Seren and Mark sit together on one side, leaving her no choice but to sit next to Johnny. She glares at Seren, who beams back at her with a devilish smile. Cordelia juts her hand forward from under her chin and Seren mouths ‘I love you too’ in response. Soon enough, Seren and Mark are too busy babbling about the pretty sunset that it seems like it’s just Cordelia and Johnny.

They're sitting so close Cordelia can feel the heat radiating between them. She keeps her head down, staring at her shoes pretending she’s trying to get something off of them. Johnny clears his throat and it makes Cordelia nearly jump out of her skin. “I’m sorry, I startled you..” Johny laughs. Cordelia thinks his laugh sounds a bit like velvet feels.

“It’s okay, I was just…” She looked for words to say, but she couldn’t just tell him she was ignoring his existence. That would be rude, right? She gets lost in her head and is only brought back to Johnny laughing again.

“You’re really ignoring me, aren't you?”

“What, no.” But yes. Of course she is. Every time she looks at Johnny she can’t help but have flashbacks of her hiding under her dining table because he was at the door. “Nope, not ignoring you.” She scoots away a bit, but there isn’t much room to go.

“Okay,” He says, “Even if you were I wouldn't blame you, I get annoying sometimes. Just ask Mark.”

Cordelia stays quiet. He’s being nice again. Why is this guy so nice? Any other person would be glad the strange girl from next door who has strange pet names for her dog was ignoring them. Why did he continue to be so nice to her? She didn’t get it. Even though Cordelia wasn’t saying much back to him, he talked the whole ride. As much as his voice had grown on her in the past few hours, she just wanted to get off. Being so close to him, his niceness just running through his veins and pulsing through the air around them was making Cordelia more nervous. Even more than the fact she was an idiot and didn’t check the bushes before calling out to Ruckus. “My friends think that the story is pretty funny..” Johnny trails off.

Cordelia looks up at him, confused. “Story? What story?”

“The one where you interrupted my gardening..” He can see Cordelia’s face flush when he says it.

“You told people?”

“You didn’t?” He laughs, and Cordelia is ready to jump out of the ferris wheel. Out of all people, it had to be him that lived next door to her. This nice, well spoken guy who didn’t even find it the slightest bit weird. Who used a hot dog to get the dog to come to him but still made sure it was okay that he did when he brought him back.

Cordelia was never so happy to get her feet on solid ground again.

They take on the task of looking for food. By now, the sun had set and people had started to leave, so the food lines were pretty short. They were all hit with the smells, but when at a carnival, who really eats actual food? Suddenly, Mark and Seren simultaneously smacked Cordelia and Johnny’s arms in excitement. A collective “Ow!” follows from Johnny and Cordelia.

They shoot a look at each other and point respectively. “Does that happen to you often?” Cordelia starts the conversation this time.

“Yes. All the time.”

“No Shit.” Cordelia smiles and can feel her previous tension melt away a bit.

Seren is poking her arm repeatedly now. “Chocolate covered fruit. Let’s go. Cor, c’mon.”

The stand has various options, but they all pick pretty easy things. Mark and Seren get two different types of chocolate-covered strawberries to share half and half. Johnny decided to get a piece of cheesecake, and Cordelia goes with the safe bet of a normal chocolate-covered banana, with sprinkles for an extra flare. They find a picnic table nearby and sit together. Cordelia doesn’t throw an internal fit when Johnny sits next to her this time.

As Seren and Mark figure out how to eat their fruit, Cordelia had already taken a bite of hers. She’s looking around, as no one is really talking, and just is enjoying her time. Johnny looks over at her and a devious smile pulls at his lips. As he takes a bite of his cheese cake, he waits until Cor takes another bite of her banana before he confidently says “It’s scrumptious, isn't it?”

Cordelia nearly chokes as she picks up on the blatant innuendo and the fact that he used the word she never wanted to hear, ever, ever again. Especially coming from him. Cordelia turns towards him and without thinking, whacks his shoulder. He laughs, nearly falling off the bench from the impact. Mark nudges him with his foot to give that extra push and Johnny falls to the ground laughing. His face is red from embarrassment, but he saw the opportunity and took it. Cordelia eventually starts laughing too. The sight of him clutching his stomach in laughter on the ground, face a bright red, made her feel not as bad about that day. At least what she had said was on accident.


	5. Fuck you, you pretty bitch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jungwoo and Cordelia had the same feeling from the beginning about each other. On one fateful day, the feeling was intensified, in the most Cordelia and Jungwoo way.

From the moment they met, they knew.

They could feel it in the back of their neck. A tingle that raised the hair on their arms. A feeling in the pit of their stomach. They hadn’t even said a word to one another. They didn’t have to. They both knew. The look on their faces said it all. The ways their eyes examined each other, like they were looking at every detail. The way her hair fell, the way he carried himself. Everything about her made him question if she was real. She wondered if he always looking like that.

They knew they absolutely hated each other.

Jungwoo carried himself well and Cordelia hated the way that he sauntered around. His hair bounced with every move and he was almost always smiling. If it was anyone else, like Jaehyun for example, she wouldn’t even question the infectious happiness. But Jungwoo made her blood boil. She couldn’t explain it. There wasn’t much of a reason. His existence was enough.

Jungwoo felt the same, though if you didn’t pay attention to the smug glances and the insults they threw back and forth, you’d never be able to tell. Cordelia wasn’t afraid to let people know. Jungwoo was just better at hiding it.

Things got awkward when Seren would want her two best friends to come and hang out with her. They never fought over her attention, but Seren always would walk in at random times and they’d be at each other’s throats for breathing. She always got the same answer from Cordelia why she despised him.

“He’s just, him. I don’t know. He’s got better hair than me, he walks around like nothing bothers him. I just wanna take him and say ‘fuck you, you pretty bitch’. Like, for no particular reason.”

“You sound like you want to compliment him.”

“No, he likes himself too much to be able to take compliments.”

One of the biggest things between the two is they often disagreed. On what music to play, on where to go eat, on what character was the best from a T.V. show. Sometimes, Seren felt like they did it because they didn’t want to have anything in common. It was bad enough that they were Seren’s best friends. They’d attend get togethers but avoided each other at all costs. They were maybe too similar, Mark suggested one day. The same day that everyone thought they would become friends on a drunken Jungwoo’s behalf. He attempted to start talking to her, only to end his sentence calling her an idiot. The punch to the shoulder is the only thing Jungwoo remembers from that night.

Jungwoo finally gave Corelia a solid reason one day when he disagreed with her on one of the most precious things in her life.

For whatever reason, Jungwoo came with Mark to hang out with Seren at Cordelia’s house. Mark had gotten used to Ruckus forgetting who he was every time he moved, but Jungwoo wasn’t even aware she had a dog. So, when Ruc came rushing the door as he walked in, Jungwoo couldn’t help but let out a small scream.

“Oh my god, is that a rat?” He clung to the door as Seren came and picked Ruckus up to remove him from the walkway.

Cordelia poked her head out to look at who said that, her eyes narrowing when they landed on a startled Jungwoo. “Did you just call my dog a rat?”

“That’s..” He pulls himself off of the door, straighten out his shirt and fixing his hair. Cordelia grimaced at him. “That’s a dog?” He looks at the ball of fluff that Seren is holding. She nodded, tipping her head at him.

Mark sat back and looked at what was going on, knowing how much Cordelia loved the little thing. He knew that for Jungwoo, this wasn’t going to go well. On cue, Cord comes in and stares at Woo. “Are you questioning my dog?”

“Yes.” Jungwoo is glancing at Ruckus, trying to find something to compliment, but the poor scruffy dog bares his teeth and Jungwoo looks back at Cordelia with a face of disgust. “He’s… cute... I guess..”

“You guess?”

“Yeah… Like, an ugly cute..”

“Oh I’m sorry Jungwoo..” Seren can see Cor’s face twist. Rucky was her pride and joy, even before Betty. Jungwoo glances at Seren, then at Mark, knowing he said something to set her off. “Not everyone can be as pretty as you.”

“Did you just compliment me?” Jungwoo laughs, knowing very well she didn’t mean it like that. He crosses his arms. “Really, it’s that bad that I don’t think he’s the cutest dog?”

“He can hear you!” Cordelia covers Ruckus’ ears like he can understand what any of them are saying. Jungwoo just shakes his head. “You’re worse than a pile of flaming shit, ya know?”

“I’m trying to ask you an actual question.”

“And I’m avoiding it.”

“I can tell. And you called me pretty.” He places his hand on Cor’s forehead, pretending to check for a fever.

She swatted him away, “And I wish I could take it back,” Cordelia looks at Seren and Mark, who have just been watching this go down. She looks back at Jungwoo, and he rolls his eyes. Cordelia lets out a groan. “You’re cocky.”

“Someone’s gotta like me,” He raises his eyebrow at her.

“I hate you. Like, I really, honestly hate you.”

“Why? I’m lovely.”

“I regret a lot of things…” Cordelia stares him down, squinting at him. “This conversation is now at the top of the list.”

And even though they tried to set their differences aside for the sake of Seren’s sanity, the conversation always came up after. At dinners at home. At lunches in public. At outings that everyone went on. They bickered like a married couple and Mark had even tried to set up a time for them to talk out their differences. It only led to Mark having to hold Cordelia back from strangling Jungwoo, as Woo cackled to himself. The fact that Jungwoo called Ruckus an ‘ugly cute’ got brought up even when he wasn’t around. It especially got brough up when he'd compliment other animals on how cute they were. Seren tried to convince Cordelia to give him another shot, maybe the two of them would get along if they actually talked instead of fought. Jungwoo even sat down one day with them to try and work their differences out, for Seren, of course. There was a solid five minutes of civil talking before they went into bickering. They eventually settled to agree on one thing: Disagreeing. Cordelia still covers Ruckus' ears when the words ugly or Jungwoo are said. 


	6. End to Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you have to end a chapter to start a new one.

Mark sits up right on the couch and looks at Seren, who had stopped talking to him. Her eyes shifted from him to the T.V. and stayed there. He took a deep breath, feeling like he did something wrong. “Ren, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She deadpans, not even looking at him.

He stares up at the ceiling, knowing the tone of voice she has says otherwise. “You’re lying.”

“No, I’m not. Now drop it.” Her heart sinks, but she can’t bare to let herself say anything more.

“I can’t do this.. Not with you. You have to talk to me.” Mark tries to talk calmly, because really that’s all she has to do is talk to him.

“Mark, really. Just drop it.” Seren gets up from laying down and is now also sitting upright. Mark feels like she’s miles away from him.

He wants to move closer, but stays on his side. “Why are you so stubborn?” She shoots him a look. He shakes his head. “Please don’t push me out.”

“I’m not.” Seren looks down, feeling her head get a bit dizzy as she thinks. “I’m.. I’m trying. I really am.” She mumbled, almost quiet enough for Mark not to hear her.

“Then talk to me..”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Well of course I won’t if you don’t tell me.”

“I can’t.” Not yet, at least. She had to get her thoughts in order. She had to settle her anxious mind from all the what if’s that were running around.

Mark gets up, putting on his shoes and grabbing his keys. Seren stands up from her spot on the couch. “What are you doing?”

“I’m leaving..” Mark talks low. He can feel the tingle in the back of his throat as it tightens. “Because obviously there’s something you don’t want to tell me and I’m not going to sit around and feel bad about myself. Talk to me when you’re ready.” Mark stands a few feet away from her but he doesn’t leave. He sees her standing there, arms crossed, her bare feet on the floor and a worried look on her face. His head falls a bit to the side as she looks up at him. He wants to stay, to talk it out but he knows it won’t do any good. They’ll only get tangled up on each other and he’ll go home, beating himself up trying to figure out what was wrong.

“I just need some time to think…” Seren whimpers. She was scared. She was scared that she felt too much. That he wouldn’t be ready to accept that. She worries that she was too much baggage and that he deserves someone better. Someone who wasn’t her. Someone who was easier to handle. Her eyes watered a bit when she saw him looking back at her.

“Then think. I’ll be at home.”

“So you’re upset with me now?” She knew the answer, but she just wanted to hear from him.

“I have every right to be,” He huffed, running his hand over his face. He normally doesn’t feel like yelling, but he can feel the frustration building up.

“I told you to drop it.” Seren speaks back sharply. She slumps when she does, not wanting to take her frustration about herself on him.

Mark exhales deeply as he closes his eyes, trying to calm himself. His hands shook and he bites his lip, and before he could stop himself, he raises his voice. “How do you expect me to drop it, Serenity?” Ren’s heart drops at the tone of his voice and how her full name rolls off his tongue. She couldn’t say anything, and Mark’s voice filled the quiet room as he continued, “I’ve been nothing but understanding with you. I know that you get nervous, I know it’s hard to talk about how you feel. I know that in the past things haven’t worked out well for you. I get it. But Jesus Christ, you can’t keep pushing people out when you get caught in your head. I want to help you, I want to be there for you because for crying out loud, I love you and that’s not changing. But you’ve got to work with me here.” He closes his eyes again as he breathes out. When he opens his eyes, he immediately wants to beat himself up.

Seren looks at him in shock from everything, tears streaming down her face. She doesn’t know when they start, and Mark can feel his eyes get heavy as he looks at her. “You can leave, Mark.” Seren wants to grab at her chest as she says it.

“I’m sorry..” Mark tries to hold back tears. “I’m sorry, are you okay?” He goes to walk towards her, but she backs away from him. Even through his anger, he feels terrible.

“I’ll be fine, just go.” Seren’s voice cracks as she says it. Mark doesn’t move. “Go!” She doesn’t really want him to leave. She wants him to do anything but leave. And that scares her.

Mark throws his hands in the air and storms out of the door, slamming it behind him. Seren lets out a scream and he can hear it from outside. She knocked over a frame with a picture of the two of them in it. It was an accident, but it couldn’t have been more fitting. It hits the ground with a clatter, the glass cracking and splintering over their faces. Mark’s chest clenches as he settles in his car. When he looks in the rear view at himself, he can see the tear streaks running down his face. He rests his head back before he starts the car and drives off.

Seren falls to her knees and looks at the shut door. She hoped that he would walk back in, but she knew better. She doesn’t even bother to go and lock it. She stays on the ground for a minute before Blu walks over and licked her face clean of tears. She wraps her arms around the huge labs neck, kissing the top of his bulky head. She looks around the now empty house, unsure of what to do. She feels sick to her stomach and when she looks over at the picture, she’s in tears again. She can’t bring herself to close the blinds and shut out from the world, because outside, it was beautiful. The sun was bright, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She knows, because they were out, laying in her front lawn looking up, shielding their eyes from the light. She doesn’t know when she started clutching the shattered frame to her chest. Reluctantly, she gets up and tosses it in the garbage.

A few hours pass, and Nix and WinWin find a sad Seren watching sappy movies alone in the dark, curled up with Blu and a box of tissues. Phoenix drops her belongings at Sicheng’s feet as she rushes over to her side. “Who’s ass am I kicking? Is it Mark? I’ll leave right now. I know where he lives. Winnie, let’s go, we’re kicking some ass.” Phoenix jumps up again, but not fast enough that Seren couldn’t grab her arm to stop her.

“It’s not his fault…” Seren chokes out. “I’m so bad at this whole thing… I- I- I-” Seren’s eyes well with tears again, thinking back at what Mark had yelled at her. Nix’s sees Ren’s lip quivering and she hugs her.

“How about some pizza? The one from the little place down the road?” Phoenix coos, trying to be comforting. Seren nods and Nix’s is up, making a phone call and ordering right away.

Sicheng warns Seren before he flicks a light on, only to come and sit next to her on the couch. He wasn’t one to be very affectionate, so when he took her into a light hug it caught her off guard. He rubbed her arm, and Seren relaxed a bit. "What ever happened, it'll work out…" he says as Phoenix comes back into the room.

The sit around the table to pick at the pizza and Phoenix asked what happened. Both her and WinWin listen intently. Seren confides in them that she may have messed up the relationship and it was her fault and her fault only. That Mark only reacted the way he did because she pushed him there. She had to pause through tears and catch her breathe here and there. As Nix cleans the mess from the pizza, she finds the picture in the trash with the broken frame. “Don’t throw it out so fast, Ren..” She says, lifting the unharmed picture from the broken glass. "Not yet. If things go bad, we'll burn it. But not yet."

When Mark eventually gets home, his head hangs low and he runs his hand through his hair. Johnny sits on the couch, looking at the kid who he watched grow up sulking. "You look rough.." he mutters out. When Mark blankly stares back at him, he knows it's bad. "What happened?"

"I made Seren cry."

"Oh shit."

"What do I do?" Mark's eyes shoot around, seeming to try and find an answer in the space behind Johnny. Johnny tries to help but he don’t know how to. He had fucked up and he didn't want to accidentally make Mark fuck up too. He suggests going and talking to Taeyong, who's probably more level headed at this point.

Mark takes himself to go to Taeyong's room, but stops when he looks through the slightly open door. Athena and Taeyong were entangled with each other. It was innocent, loving, their own little world and Mark could feel the lump in his throat. He wonders if they ever fight, but decided that he would leave them be. They were happy, he didn't want to intrude.

Mark paces in his room, contemplating about calling Seren and apologizing profusely for how he reacted. He overreacted and he knows. "Fuck." He said to himself as he walked out of the front door. He heads next door. He hesitates, pulling his hand back a few times before he actually works the nerve to knock. He’s half expecting Cordelia to shut the door in his face when she opens it but she looks at him, confused. He looks at her, his eyes a bit bloodshot and puffy. “Can I come in?”

Cordelia nods her head as he slumps into the house. He sits on the couch and rests his head in his hands. Cordelia shuts the door and turns to look at the sorry excuse of a normally bubbly and happy Mark. She sits next to him, but he stares off into space. "What happened?"

"You don't know?" Mark perks up a bit, looking at her. Cordelia can see he's been crying now and her heart sank a little. "I- she didn't tell you?"

"Who? Seren?"

"Yeah."

"I haven't talked to her today." Cor checks her phone and looks back at him. "Should I know something?"

The question makes Mark swallow hard. "I yelled at Seren." He chokes back a bit but he starts to cry regardless, "and she cried and I feel like shit. I didn't mean to yell, I don't know why I yelled. It just happened. God, she looked so sad. That's not how I wanted to tell her."

Cordelia stood up and held herself back from doing anything to hasty. "You did what? And tell her what? What did you tell her?" Even though she was able to hold back her hands, her tongue didn't quite get the memo fast enough. "I swear to god Mark, I'll deck you right here."

Heavy eyes lift to stare at her, she's never seen Mark like this. He's pitiful, she couldn't lie. He licked his lips before he spoke. "I love her, Cor."

Cordelia drops down next to him, cupping his face in her hands. He pulls back a but, confused at the action. "You said what?"

"I doesn't matter, I screwed up. I left and slammed the door and she screamed. I heard something fall." He starts to cry again, even with his attempts to wipe his face off. "She told me to leave."

"Oh." Normally Seren wasn't like that. Cordelia would have known if something was seriously wrong in the relationship.

"She said she needed time to think… I just didn't know how to go about it. I reacted too fast. I pushed her too much. I should know better. It just frustrating when she keeps her emotions bottled up when I just want to help." Mark takes a deep breathe for the first time since he had walked in.

"Oh God…" Cordelia knew what was going on. "Oh, Mark, you didn't do anything wrong." She stood up, going to get him a glass of water and sat on the coffee table to face him. "Just talk to her, okay? Go home, send her a text and let her know you're still there."

He nods, drinking the water before he gets up. Cordelia gave him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before he walks back home. He sits on the front steps, writing out a message. He lays back on the concrete to look at the sky. It was a little more lonely looking at the stars without her.

Seren nervously taps her foot on the floor. The smell of coffee normally made her feel a bit sick, but today she felt sick before stepping foot in the shop. She feels her stomach do flips when Mark walks in. His hands were tucked safely into the pocket of his hoodie. She recognized it. She still didn't understand why the sleeves had to be a different color, but he had always looked nice in blue. Mark's head was spinning when he saw her. She looked better, but he still hurt thinking about the way she looked when he saw her last. He pushed the thought aside as he sat across from her. The air felt different than the first time they had been here together and it seemed so far away now. The way she giggled when she read a cheesy line to him, how she pointed out words she couldn’t pronounce, and how she had highlighted some lines that remind her of him in her book.

“You’re lucky..” She laughed.

“Why?”

“Cordelia would kill me if she knew I defaced my favorite book just so I could remember what lines to show you.”

“I guess that makes me twice as lucky, let’s not tell her about this. I need you to stay alive. I’d be lost without the north star.”

"Hi.." she spoke softly, breaking him out of his thoughts. She had to tell him this time.

"Hey." Mark's voice was low. He felt terrible. He just wants to take her hands and hold on to them, as she gently cups the hot coco she must have gotten while waiting. “I’m sorry.” Mark speaks up. “Really, I am. I feel terrible. I should have never raised my voice at you. I know how it makes you feel. I just didn’t know how to process the situation.” He rambles until Seren cuts him off.

“So am I.” Seren looks at him in the eyes. She had looked at them all the time, but the lighting made them sparkle. She adored his dark eyes, the way they seemed to hold a bit of a galaxy of their own. Mark could feel his face warm up, he was almost positive his nose was red at the way she cracked a small smile. Seren doesn’t realize she’s smiling. “I really should have just told you..” She starts, before she loses the nerve.

“I shouldn’t have pestered you.”

“Mark, listen.” Seren hushed him, sweetly. “I was scared. I’m still scared. But I thought about it and I know you’ll be nothing but honest with me.” She looks down, feeling embarrassed thinking about it. This all could have been avoided had she just said it before. “I was just scared you wouldn’t be ready yet. Like, I knew I was ready, but I wasn’t sure.” She trails off a bit, taking her lip under her teeth. “I love you, Mark.”

His eyes shoot up to look at her again and he could kick himself. He thought about asking Cordelia to do it later for good measure. He sighs in relief. He was so stupid. “God, I’m an idiot.” He wishes he had told her he loved her earlier, so that maybe this wouldn’t have happened. He had a cute idea and everything and now he’d never get the chance to have that first I love you back.

“But you’re my idiot.” Seren smiles as she says it.

Mark’s heart flutters. “I love you too, Serenity.” This time her name wrapped itself around her and she felt warm. He felt it was right to start a new chapter with her in the same coffee shop she read that book to him in, after all.


	7. Just This Once

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You never know what a story is about until you reach the end.

Seren sits on the couch with Mark, Johnny sitting on the opposite side of the room when Seren gets the notification.

Jungwoo and Cordelia are now in a relationship.

She lets out a panicked noise, tossing her phone on the table. Mark looks over at her, then at her phone on the table. Soon, Johnny lets out a quiet “What the fuck?” from where he’s sitting. Seren and him shoot a look at one another and scramble to each other. They exchanged their phones and both panicked, look at a laughing Mark.

“Why are you laughing?” Seren spits out.

“What’s the big deal?” He laughs, fully aware of what’s truly going on.

“What do you mean what’s the big deal?” Johnny is now looking at Mark, shaking his head.

Mark shrugs, shaking his head back. “C’mon, they always were at each other's throats. They had to have had a crush on each other.”

“Oh no, no, no, that is not true Mark.” Seren got up to look at him better. “They hate each other. I know this. This makes no sense.” Mark just shrugs again and they three of them settle back down a bit. When Mark drops Ren off later, he heads to Cordelia’s place before home.

“I can’t believe I have to be this close to you.” Jungwoo says as he grabs the large book next to him, in no particular way but it must have been wrong.

Cordelia snatches the book from him, smacking him with it as hard as she can on his shoulder. “Please treat my books better than you treat literally anything else I own.”

Mark walks in and sees Haechan cackling to himself on the floor. Cordelia is still hitting Woo with the book. Mark points in their direction. Haechan composes himself, looking at Mark. “They’ve been doing this for the past hour. I’ve gotten nothing out of them.”

“AYE!” Mark calls out at them, and they pop up like curious kittens. “This won’t work if you guys still fight all the time.” He laughs, sitting down.

“I have half a mind to back out of this.” Jungwoo glares at Cordelia, who draws back the book again, making Jungwoo scramble backwards to avoid her. “She likes hitting.” He points at her.

“Don’t act like you don’t enjoy someone who’s a bit rough.” Haechan smirks, Jungwoo shooting him a look, Haechan giving him what he thinks is a wink.

“It’s just until the party, it’s not that bad.” Mark ignores Donghyuck’s comment.

“That’s a whole week from now..” Jungwoo whines.

“I’m not too happy about this either but it’ll be fun to see their faces.” Cordelia sits back, still holding the book.

“You came up with this idea. You find pleasure in this. I, for one, do not.” Jungwoo looks at Mark. “Two, can we please take these pictures so I can go home?”

“Yeah, yeah, you two aren’t going to kill each other are you?” Mark grabs his phone, sitting in front of them.

“No promises.” Cordelia says as she scoots closer to Jungwoo, lifting the book to cover their faces. Jungwoo reluctantly puts his hand on the back cover of the book and they stare each other down as Mark snaps a few pictures.

“Can you guys move a bit closer? It doesn’t look quite right..” He mutters out.

“You really want me to get closer to her? I can see her pores from here. I don’t even like to be in the same room as her, let alone look at her face.” Jungwoo whines again, still holding the book with Cordelia.

“Oh Woo, She’s pretty. You can’t hate looking at her that much.” Haechan calls from behind Mark, smiling.

“See?” Cordelia throws the book down, looking at Haechan then back at Jungwoo. “Why can’t you be more like him?”

“I wouldn’t like him as much if he were more like me.” Haechan says, Jungwoo looks down to try and hide his smile.

“Can we just take this picture?” Mark speaks up, his head in his hand. Finally they all start to work together. Jungwoo and Cordelia exchange insults back and forth to ease their uncomfortable closeness as Haechan continues to laugh to himself. Mark is able to get a few good pictures that are at least somewhat convincing.

Mark swears Seren is going to jump out of the window and is concerned when he hears Johnny scream from his room when the picture is uploaded the night before the party. An instagram post that says “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. Mark stifles a laugh when Seren shows it to him. It was pretty good, if he said so himself. They looked like they were close enough to be kissing and he could hear how panicked Seren was.

“Seriously, have you talked to either of them?” She sits down, still staring at the photo.

“Not since the other day. They’re probably too busy with each other.”

“Stop, no, this is so out of character for them.”

“Well, we get to see them tomorrow. See how things go.” He kisses the back on Seren’s neck lightly. “C’mon, let’s go to sleep. We gotta set up in the morning.”

The tradition started out as a joke with the girls. Cordelia had said she was throwing a party and nobody caught on what day it was, so they all showed up. It had become something that every year for April fools, someone would throw the party. Since the boys were around, they got wrapped into the tradition. Taeyong and Mark offered the throw the party at their house. Johnny had no say but he didn’t mind it either.

When Seren and Mark finally came down stairs, Athena and Taeyong had already started decorating. They all helped one another as people slowly came in. Johnny had stopped at the store and bought an abundance of alcohol to keep everyone happy. Talk started to come up as more people got there. Haechan and Phoenix sat at the dining table together, filling each other in on their work gossip. They waited until Seren and Johnny were both in the kitchen to start up their next conversation.

“Did you see Cordelia and Jungwoo’s post?” Nix starts, glancing over at Seren and Johnny as they both scramble to try and hold on to the tray of food they are moving. Haechan tries not to laugh.

“I did. They're super cute. I’m glad they were able to set aside their differences.” Seren shoves the tray on to Johnny’s arms as she walks out of the room.

“Does everyone know about this already?” Johnny says, setting the tray down on the table by Nix and Chan. They both nod. Johnny shakes his head and grabs himself a bottle of beer and sulks in the chair in the living room. Seren does a head count and sees almost everyone is there, except Cordelia and Jungwoo.

The two of them are outside the door, bitching at each other about how they are going to walk into the house. “Just hold my fucking hand, this is the easy part. Do you think I want to kiss you?” Cordelia scoffs, grabbing his hand as he tenses.

“It’s only on my cheek. That’s not that bad.” Jungwoo grimaces at the feeling of her holding his hand. “Let’s get this over with.”

“With pleasure.” Cord says, opening the door. Cheers erupt from all but three people at the party. Jungwoo can feel his heart drop when he sets his eyes on Lucas, even though Ten had asked him before hand if it was okay to invite him. They hadn’t talked in ages and seeing him there brought a flood of emotions. He shakes his head and looks at a confused Seren, who is standing cross armed in front of them.

“Seriously?” She looks at the two of them.

Cordelia leans into Jungwoo, kissing his cheek and the look on Seren’s face makes Jungwoo feel less bad about his stomach feeling sick. “Of course!” Cordelia says, as she skips away.

Johnny stands next to Seren. “She’s absolutely lost it.” He mumbles. I made her absolutely lose it, he thinks.

Soon enough people started to drink and fall into their own little areas.

Kiara and Jaehyun are pestering each other, flirting even if they don’t quite realize it. Mark socializes with Haechan, WinWin, and Nix, who are all playing a small drinking game they must have come up with themselves. Yuta and Ten flip through music together, looking for something to dance to. Grace, Taeil, Taeyong, Athena, Lyn and Doyoung all are chilling around the coffee table, sipping on whatever drinks they have, alcoholic or not, playing a game of uno. Lucas longingly looks at Jungwoo and Cordelia, who are standing at the kitchen island, shoving each others shoulders. Seren and Johnny sit in the living room, staring around trying to process what is happening, clinking their drinks together as the shoot them back.

The evening lazily goes on as everyone starts to exchange in what activities they’re doing, until Kiara and Jaehyun suggest karaoke. A few different mixes go up. Kiara and Jaehyun start off, singing "You got a friend in me”. Haechan and Nix go up to funnily sing “Everytime we touch”, giving slight glances to two particular people in the room as they do. Grace and Athena go and jam out to “I write sins”. Jungwoo tried to drag Seren up to do it too, but she sat in a fuss and didn’t move. He gives up as Cordelia calls him over lovingly. He feels himself gag as she does.

They look at each other, having already planned what song to sing for their own reasons that nobody knows about. The song “shout out to my ex" comes through the speakers and they start jumping around, having a grand time exchanging lines back and forth. Cordelia belts out the line “I hope she’s getting better sex. Hope she ain't fakin’ like I did, babe,” as she scans the room with her finger, nonchalantly holding it towards Johnny for a second. Her and Jungwoo nearly scream “shout out to my ex” at each other, dancing around all happy. Seren finally breaks a small smile at them. Jungwoo then slows down and lock eyes with Lucas, keeping a straight face as he sings “But I snapped right back, I’m so brand new, baby. Boy read my lips, I’m over you”. He smiles to himself as Lucas turns away.

A few more people go up, but slowly it dies down. Mark hooks up his phone to play music and he lets a playlist run. A lot of the music is upbeat and everyone has started to dance in partners, in their own worlds. Mark curls up with Seren on the couch, being a bit clingy and far more affectionate than normal. Johnny sits sipping his drink until he spits it out. He nudges Seren as Cordelia and Jungwoo dance together, rather seductively to Side to Side. Jungwoo leans down to whisper in Cordelia’s ear. “I absolutely could have lived without ever doing this.” Seren pushes Mark away from her and he looks up, seeing what they're doing and starts laughing. Seren doesn’t even bother to address Cordelia.

“KIM JUNGWOO!” Seren pulls him aside, and can’t see Cordelia’s sigh of relief. “What is this? You literally can't STAND to be in the same room as her half the time I'm SO confused.” Mark is nearly on the floor clutching his stomach in laughter as Jungwoo let’s out a small laugh and looks at Haechan.

Heachan smiles, tipping his cup in the air. “April fools, Ren.” He smiles. Seren’s face drops, as Mark gets up. She glares at him.

“Oh, come here, you grump.” He put his arm around her shoulders.

Johnny takes a deep breath hearing the words April Fool’s, setting his head back and closing his eyes. Meanwhile Jungwoo and Cordelia go back to their normal selves.

“Don’t ever touch my ass again.” Cordelia eyes Jungwoo up and down.

“You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Oh, like you hated it that much.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think I could find it, it’s so small.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Cordelia says, turning around to smack her butt. “Like I know I’m great but don’t going falling in love with me now.”

“I’d never.” Jungwoo squints at her.

“Well funny you say that, because I’d never be interested.” She shoots back.

“Jokes on you, I’m gay.” Jungwoo shoots a smile and everyone stops what they’re doing.

Seren turns to him, mouthing the word “really”. When he nods, she runs to hug him. Everyone else is chattering around about it, until Haechan speaks up. “I could have told you that.” He gets up, taking Jungwoo’s hand and stands there. Seren takes him into a hug too.

The night dies down as people get a bit tired and start to drift to sleep. Kiara had curled next to Jaehyun a while ago. Grace and Taeil were at the kitchen table playing cards. Athena and Taeyong were cutely facing each other and talking, poking each others nose here and there. Johnny had cuddled up with a pillow on the couch. Lucas, Ten and Yuta had all headed home. Sicheng and Phoenix had fallen asleep on the floor, hands only barely touching as they faced each other. Mark and Seren were off in the corner of the couch, Seren curled into his chest, him playing aimlessly with her hair. Haechan, Lyn and Doyoung were all talking about the night, sharing jokes about everything that had happened. Jungwoo was rinsing out dishes when Cordelia came in and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah?” He said as he turns back to the dishes.

“I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to come out.” She leaned on the counter. “Especially with me. I’ve never given you much reason to care about me knowing anything in your life.”

“It was a long time coming. I was ready. I needed to do it.” He nodded. “Now that things are going better.”

They both smiled before Cordelia socked him in the shoulder. “This doesn’t mean I hate you any less. You’re still a cocky asshole.”

“And your existence still gets on my nerves.” He says back.

Cordelia and Jungwoo delete the pictures off their instagrams but Cordelia adds the out takes on hers, with the caption “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, all of them can be used to beat up Jungwoo”.


	8. Heart of the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny has a realization about where his heart lies and comes up with a cheesy plan.

The trip was long, but it had been planned for a while. Johnny drove the whole way, letting Cordelia sleep as they had left early. They were only going to be able to stay the day, but Johnny knew that the day would be enjoyable. He didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by having to stay in a hotel. He was surprised she had actually agreed to hang out, just them, after everything. He thought it would never happen again at one point. He had contemplated even doing this for her. He even pushed back the date, later into her birthday month because, even though this was for her birthday, he wasn’t sure they were back at that level just yet. It had been so long that he had almost forgotten what it was like to be with her, alone, less than a foot apart.

He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss it.

Miss her.

He shook his head, focusing back on the road. After a few more hours, he pulled into a parking lot. He took a second to take in the stillness around him. Cordelia slept soundly, only stirring a few times. The seat was all the way back and she rests on her side, her hands under her cheek as a makeshift pillow. She looked pretty. He wondered what it might have felt like waking up to that. He pushes the thought out of his head, it wasn’t the time. He nudged her, softly at first but she just swatted him away.

“Te...ten mor.. More minutes..” She mumbled.

“Cora-” He catches himself. “Cordelia… We don't have ten more, we’re here..”

“Where..?” she fluttered her eyes open for a second, then shut them again.

“Well, wake up and find out…” He nudged her again, this time with a bit more force. “Cord, come on…”

She groaned, opening her eyes and sitting up. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window. In front of them was a grand, old looking building. Old discolored bricks blended in with the starting colors of fall. The entrance was elaborate, but Cordelia still had no idea where she was at this distance. “It’s a… building…” She glanced around. Next to this building was a large windowed domed building as well. “Okay that’s a greenhouse.. I know what that is.”

“Correct…” Johnny nodded. “But we’re really here for the other building..” He pointed at the brick building. Cordelia looked back at him. She had no idea.

“Where are we?”

“Detroit.”

“Michigan?”

“No, the moon.” Cordelia shot him a look and smacked his arm. He mouthed the word “ow” at her as he rubbed the spot. “Yes, Michigan.” He opened his door and got out of the car, popping his head back in to look at her. “C’mon, let’s go”

When Cordelia steps out of the car, the cool breeze hits her. She had heard that Michigan was pretty as the leaves started to change and they were right. Much of the greenery around had shifted to bright red, oranges and yellows. It was a vast difference from home, where things were still trying to catch up. The sun brought out the golden hues and Cordelia was awestruck. Eyes darting around as she takes it in, Johnny’s eyes don’t move. He puts his hands in his pockets as he starts to take a few steps, looking back at her again. “You coming?” He calls out, flashing her a smile as she runs to catch up to him.

Getting up closer to the building she gets a better look at the entrance. She follows from the bottom up. Large columns line the sides of a beautiful archway, intricate carvings all over. In the center at the top, the word AQUARIUM carved into the stone. She looked at Johnny, who had stood back a bit to see what she would do. “You would.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” He says, scaling the stairs and opening the door. “After you.”

When Cordelia walked in, she was greeted by another sign. “American’s oldest… Wow, this was built in 1904?” She asked, though Johnny didn’t think she was really asking him. She just continued walking. The ceiling were covered in a green type of tile. None where exactly the same shade, but somehow it still worked. Several small glass openings showed the tanks, and some even lined the center of the rooms. Before Johnny could even say much else, she was already rambling to him about the fish. He listens, only asking for clarification when he doesn’t quite get something.

He didn’t really try to talk to her, as she was taking her time looking in each tank as she passed, lagging far behind any of the other people there that they had walked in with. She never touched the glass, even when pointing out where something she was talking about. Johnny smiles whenever her eyes would light up as she spoke to him. She was passionate, he already knew, but seeing it in action was endearing. She carefully read all of the little information blurbs there were. Johnny noticed how she would mouth the words to keep track of where she was, but never spoke out loud.

“Wow..” She said, eyes shining as she scanned the tank they were at. “The little thing said they are the only place that houses all seven species of Gars,” She points to a few of the fishes in the tank.

“Like in the world?”

Cordelia nods as she goes back to looking around. Johnny should be paying attention to the fish but he can’t help but just watch Cordelia. He really, really can’t help but watch her. I’m a lost cause, he thinks to himself. He’s got no other plan but to make her happy and then an idea sparks in his head. He’s drawn out by Cordelia grabbing his arm and showing him something.

“This is why I tell you to get a reusable bottle.” She points to a display case with a large amount of plastic bottles and bags. “Top ten in the nation, Johnny. Michigan is in the top ten dirtiest states.”

“I’ll get one. I promise.”

“You better.” She walks off again, calling him over. “Look how pretty the coral is in these tanks. Really. Like, I wish all the reefs still looked like this..”

Johnny frowned a little. Coral. He loved that nickname for her, but he hadn’t used it in a while. Not since. “Yeah,” He starts. “Coral is pretty..” Though, he wasn’t look in the tank when he said it.

Eventually they loop back around to the front and Johnny looks at the time. “The website said people normally spend about an hour here..” He laughs. “We’ve been here for three.” Before they head out to get back home they grab a quick bite and hit the road.

When Johnny gets home, he watches Cordelia walk to her place and then heads inside. He hears Seren laughing from the couch and smiles. “Just the person I was hoping to see!” He exclaimed as he walks in the door.

“Johnny, I live with you..” Mark says, confused.

“Not you, Seren.”

Seren looks at him, then back at Mark. “What? Why?”

Johnny rushes over and squeezes himself between Mark and Seren. Mark shakes his head and looks at Johnny, a bit irritated. “Johnny, I swear to god.”

“Mark, I’m not here to talk to you.” He puts his hand over his face and faces Seren. “I need help.”

“With?”

“Cordelia.”

“Why?” Mark’s voice is muffled under Johnny’s hand. Johnny sits back, putting his hands in his lap.

“I want to make it right..” He looks down. “Okay, not right, I can’t change what happened but like, I want to start over.”

“Too bad you couldn’t reintroduce yourself,” Mark jokes.

“You’re a genius…” Johnny looks at Mark, a smile on his face.

“I was-”

“Anyways, Seren, how can I make her a fish tank?”

Seren shakes her head. “A tank?”

“Yes.” Seren raises her eyebrow and Johnny shakes his head, “Okay, so like, I want to ask her to like start over..” He looks at Mark, “I’m reintroducing myself. Thanks for that.” He looks back at Seren, “But like, I want to do it cutely. You know, with some sort of silly sentiment.”

“First off, how would you get the tank to her without her knowing?”

“Oh.” He nods. “See, that’s why I came to you.”

“What about a hermit crab?”

“Does she like them?”

“Yes, she’s wanted one for years.”

“Do they live in water?”

“No… is that important?” She shakes her head. Johnny sometimes doesn’t explain himself enough.

“Uh, sort of… Are they by the water at least?”

“John… They’re crabs.. Yes…”

“Okay. So, I have a plan.” Johnny starts, excitedly looking between Mark and Seren as he explains. He needs to get a hermit crab, a tank, learn about them, care for it until the time is right and he can get Cordelia to come over, and he needs Seren and Mark’s help. The couple is a bit confused but listen anyways. Johnny has moments where he talks so fast that they have no idea what he’s talking about and he has to start over.

The next few weeks Seren goes back to their house to help Johnny learn all he can about the hermit crabs. As he gets information, he goes and buys things. How they live, cleaners, water disinfectants, ocean salt. He takes Seren with him to the pet store to pick the right tank and substrates, which he learned about right then and there. He did research on his own. Seren found this out one day looking in the fridge.

“Why is there baby food in the fridge?”

“Craby likes-” Johnny starts.

“Lenny.”

“Lenny likes sweet stuff.. They said they'll eat baby food..” Johnny rambles form the dining table as he scrolls on his computer. “Do you think tomorrow works?”

“Did you ask her? Or Mark?”

“Oh right.” He looks up, “MARK, YOU’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING TOMORROW, YOU GOTTA HELP ME!” He yells, then looks back to Seren. “Can you ask Cord? I want it to be a surprise.”

So, Seren does just that. She tells Cordelia that her and Mark are going out and they wanted her to come with. Cordelia fought it for a moment, but eventually gave in. As Cordelia got ready, Johnny got ready at home. He finished up the tank, and looks to see what shell the crab had picked. He smiles as Mark comes down the stairs and looks with him.

“It looks cool. I like the way you decorated it.” Mark bops his head around, looking at the tank on the counter.

“She’ll like it, right?” Johnny was a bit nervous. His stomach fluttered thinking about it. He wasn’t sure how she was going to take it and he hoped it was cheesy enough for her to accept. Mark swore Johnny was about to jump out of his skin when he heard the door open.

“Mark, are you ready?” Seren calls, just like Johnny had wanted her to.

“In the kitchen, babe, can you guys come here for a second!” Mark glanced at Johnny, who was straightening out his shirt and fumbling with his hair.

As they walk into the kitchen, Johnny smiles from ear to ear. Cordelia looks at the three of them, all standing around. Johnny just waves, not saying anything.

She smiles back at him as Mark pops his head in between them. “Cordelia, I’d like you to meet my friend Johnny.” She tips her head.

Johnny puts his hand out for her to shake it. “Nice to meet you, Cordelia.”

She smiles wider, a shade of pink on her cheeks. She take his hand and shakes it. “What is this?”

“My way of starting over.” He says, his eye soft. “Look, I realized something the day I took you to the aquarium…” He moves to show her the tank. She searches in it, looking to see what’s in there.

She sees a small shell, painted a bright yellow with a giant heart in the middle of it. Suhshine, she thinks. She looks at Johnny. “Sometimes, you have to grow into something before it fits right. The crab didn’t fit in that particular shell when I got him..” He looks shy, Cordelia smiles at him, and Johnny looks down. “So, Cordelia… Would you like to go on a date with me? To get to know each other..” He laughs as she shakes her head, “Again.”


	9. Patch of Heaven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark insists on helping watch Seren's little brother and going to a pumpkin patch.

Mark stirs as Seren tries to get up, pulling her close to him again. “Where are you trying to go?” his voice is rough, his eyes still half closed. Seren continues to try and lean over him to grab her phone. Mark continues to fight her, holding on to her wrist as she reaches. “No, no, you’re not leaving.” He lifts his head to kiss at the small moon tattoo on her wrist. Seren laughs, pushing a tired Mark with her whole body to get him to lay on his back, crawling on to him, only to grab her phone and rest it on his chest. “Really?” Mark opens his eyes all the way now, examining Seren’s face as she scrolls on her phone, checking all her notifications from the night before.

“I’ve got so many messages, I’m sorry.” Seren mumbles in response to him. He playfully sticks his hand in front of the screen. Seren swats him away, only for him to set his hand on her cheek and tuck her hair out of her face, his other hand resting behind his head.

“More interesting then hanging out with me, huh?” He nearly whispers, watching her eyes dart back and forth as she reads. When she doesn’t respond, he grabs the phone and tosses it on his side, rolling Seren on to her back as he lay on her, making sure not to press all his weight. She squints at him and he cracks a smile, learning to give her a kiss.

Seren puts her finger to his lips, using her free hand to grab her phone again. “I have one more message, hold on.”

Mark huffs out a “Fine,” as he throws himself on the side of Seren, turning his head to look at her as she sets her phone down, looking back at him with a sigh. He turns on to his side, resting his arm over her waist, holding his weight on his other arm. “Everything okay?”

“I have to bail on tomorrow, I’m so sorry. I have to watch Raiden.” Seren pouts, and Mark can’t help but love her puppy eyes. He pecks her cheek, pulling her back on to him as he lays back.

“What if I watch him with you?” He hums, curiosity in his eyes. He had wanted to take the little guy out with them a few times but knew that sometimes the others can get a bit rowdy for a five year old to be around. Seren bites her lip, thinking. “Oh, C’mon, it’ll be fun. We can make a whole day out of it. Take him out, enjoy the day. We can go to that one pumpkin patch. It’ll be fun.” Seren still doesn’t answer, looking a bit unsure. “Baby, pleeaaseeeee.” He whines.

“Okay,” Seren smiles. Mark knew the word baby made her melt. “We can make a day out of it.”

“Awesome. As long as I get to spend time with you.” He rests his hand on her head and kisses her, letting her rest her head back down on his chest.

The next morning Mark wakes up a bit earlier then he normally would. He grabs a few things, like a phone charger and a portable charger, some small snacks for the ride and fumbled around looking for the old blanket he had used to keep in his car. He packed an extra sweater for Ren too, just in case. When he heard a knock on the door, he ran to it, sliding a bit on the hardwood of the hallway. Seren stood there, her younger brother at her feet, nearly half as tall as her. Mark squatted down, opening his arms out for Raiden to come and give him a hug. Raiden happily obliged. “Hey buddy.” Mark said, picking him up as he stood, placing his hand on Seren’s arm and kissing her cheek, “Hi babe.”

Raiden made a face, looking at Mark. “Ew, gross. Girls have cooties!”

Mark hastily shuffled away from Seren and the door, setting Raiden down on the couch. “Right! How could I forget!” Mark sat down on the floor next to the couch. Seren walked in and closed the door. Mark continued his commodery with the five year old. “Can she touch my shoes for me? Or would my shoes get cooties too?” He fake whispered, looking at Ren with a smile.

“Shoes are okay.” Raiden says with an affirmative nod, as Seren grabs the shoes at the front door for Mark, handing them to him. Mark’s hand lingers on hers as he takes them, despite the child’s disapproval.

Seren sits down and watches her kid brother, who has now started to try and help Mark tie his shoes. She smiles when he starts to show Raiden how to do it when he gets frustrated, letting him tie the other one. They exchange a high five before Mark stands up. “So has your sister told you where we're going today, buddy?” Raiden shakes his head, looking up at Mark with admiration. Mark smiles at him softly, “Then let’s get going so we can find out!”

“I’ll drive, if you want, love.” Seren calls to Mark as he grabs his keys.

“I want Mark to drive.” Raiden speaks up.

“What if he doesn’t want to drive, bub?” Seren bends down to look at her brother.

He turns around, ready to address Mark, who says something before Raiden can. “Nope, if my little buddy wants me to drive, I’m driving.” Mark laughs, as Raiden runs to him, holding on to his hand as they walk out.

“I’ll get the car seat then.” Seren says, shrugging. When it’s all set up, Raiden climbs in and Mark buckles him in, telling Seren to sit in the car.

“You do this all the time, I got it.” He says as he fumbles around trying to get it to click. He lets out a breath of relief when it finally does.

The car ride is peaceful, quiet, aside form the singing that Mark and Raiden do to a few songs, even though Mark doesn’t really know the words. Raiden giggles from the backseat anyways, exaggerating words and saying some of the wrong words too. Mark interlocks his index finger with Seren as he drives, having a full conversation with Raiden about school and his change in his favorite color. Mark sounds just as excited as Raiden does as he rambles about his little games on his phone and youtube videos he watches. Seren smiles to herself as she watches out of the window, the fall colors blending together and the city slipping away as vast fields open up on both sides of them. Soon enough an excited “Wow!” comes from the back seat.

“Do you see it, bud?” Mark looks in the rearview as he pulls into the makeshift parking lot, which is just a field.

“The pumpkin patch!” Raiden excitedly exclaims when they park. Mark is the first out of the car, followed quickly by an excited child. Seren is the last out, nearly having to run to catch up to the two of them. She takes a second to take in the sight. Her little brother and the person she loved, excitedly talking as they walk to the entrance. She pulls out her phone and snaps a picture before she runs up beside Mark, taking his other hand.

Mark refuses to let Seren pay the fee to enter, flipping his card out before she can even find hers in her wallet. Seren pouts when they walk in, “Mark, that was expensive, I would have at least paid for myself and Raiden.”

“Why would I have you do that?” He kisses her forehead, there isn’t a sound of disapproval from Raiden this time. “I got all the expenses today, okay? I want to treat my two favorite people to a good day.” Raiden nodded in agreement with Mark. “See, even he agrees with me.”

“Fine.” Seren huffs, looking at Raiden. “What do you wanna do, bub?”

“Train!”

“Really, right when we get here?”

“Yes!” He says, Mark already looking at the little map they were given to figure out where to go. He heads off towards it, Raiden holding on to him. Ren shakes her head with a smile, following behind. When they’re standing in line, Raiden tugs on Mark’s shirt to get his attention. As soon as Mark looks down, Raiden asks “Will you ride the train with me?”

“What about me?” Seren playfully teases her younger brother, who gives her an angry look.

“Today the boys are sticking together,” Mark sticks his tongue out at Seren and laughs, Raiden giving an approving “Yeah!” next to him. Seren rolls her eyes. Raiden is excited as they climb in, sitting next to Mark, who knocks his head on the top of the train before he can climb in. Seren laughs at the sight, looking endearingly as they ring the train bell and go around.

After, they head off towards the petting zoo. When they get there, Mark excitedly talks about the animals as he tells Raiden where they’re from. Raiden asks questions that Mark doesn’t have a solid answer to but still answers anyhow, giving Seren a stressed look when he’s asked to explain something he doesn’t understand. “Raiden, I don’t think Mark knows what that is, bub.” She bends to talk to him. “Maybe we can feed the animals and not ask questions?”

“Yeah! Will you feed them with me, Mark!” He cracks a smile under the pleading eyes of a child, as he takes out a few dollars for him to go and buy the feed. Raiden squeals as he scampers off, though not too far. Mark stands up quickly to keep an eye on him as he starts to walk toward him.

“He likes you a lot.” Seren says, standing on her toes to get a better watch on her brother.

“He takes after you in a way. It’s cute.” Mark replies.

“Oh, you’re saying I’m like a five year old?” Seren jokes.

“No, I’m saying he’s just as loveable.” Mark says, as Raiden runs back. He ruffles his hair as they go on and feed the animals. Mark helps keep Raiden’s hand steady, giving Seren a look of disgust when one of the animals licks his whole hand. The two of them exchange who feeds and who gets to pet. When they’re done, they head off to the small little race track for the pig races. Raiden putting a bet on the smallest one, and Mark saying they all should bet and the winner gets to pick the next activity. Raiden excitedly agrees, pestering Seren to pick one to make it fair. She gives in, only to join in on the excited cheering with the boys for her little pig to win. After the final race happens, Raiden jumps around and does a happy dance, signifying he won.

“Alright,” Mark says, taking Seren’s hand as the walk down the bleachers. “Where to, kid?” He places his hand on Raiden’s head to get his attention.

“Hayride and pumpkins!”

“Hayride and pumpkins it is then.” Mark hums.

The line is short so they get on rather quick, but there isn’t a lot of room. Mark pulls Raiden on to his lap, settling him to face towards his sister and puts his arm around Seren, kissing both of their foreheads.

An older couple sit across from them, as Raiden starts to get fidgety wanting to move. Seren sits and talks to him, Mark watches her as she talks calmly, not raising her voice when he starts to whine. She plays a little game, leaning on Marks other leg. He smiles at the sight of Seren with a kid. When the tractor starts up, Seren rests her head on Mark’s shoulder, as he bounces his leg a bit, which makes Raiden giggle.

The older woman leans forward to talk to Mark. “Your son has beautiful eyes!” She cooed, smiling between Seren and Raiden.

“Oh..” Mark speaks out. “This is my girlfriend's little brother..” Seren shyly laughs as Mark tells her.

“Ohh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” The woman exclaims, covering her mouth a bit. “I just assumed, you two are so good with him.” She smiles warmly at Mark and Ren.

“Thank you.” Seren smiles back.

“You two will be great parents one day!” She nods, assuring herself.

Mark nods in agreement. “One day, yes.” Seren looks at him as he smiles back at her, shrugging. .

They’re taken out of their moment by Raiden yelling “Pumpkins!” as the tractor pulls to a hult. The woman gives one more smile as Raiden waves goodbye before the three of them all get off. Raiden pulls Mark around, showing him some of the biggest pumpkins as he can, saying he wants to get the biggest one.

“Raiden, why don’t we get a smaller one?” Seren tries to convince.

“Why do you insist on me not spending money?” Mark laughs, still looking around with Raiden. “What about this one, buddy?” He points.

“No, bigger!”

“Bigger pumpkin, okay.” Mark takes Seren’s hand, leading her around with them, showing her pumpkins that Raiden had said were too small.

“Really, why don’t we get a smaller one?” Seren pouts.

“I want a big one, sister.” Raiden crosses his arms, Mark nods, copying the kid’s action, puffing his chest out. The two of them start to chant “Big pumpkin!” until Seren gives in with a fit of laughter. They get one so big they had to take it to the car before they started going about elsewhere. Raiden drags his feet a bit, lagging behind as they head back.

“Raiden Wildes, pick up your feet.” Seren lightly scolds.

“They hurt.” He whines.

Mark stops, picking Raiden up and placing him on his shoulders. “Better?” Mark questions, holding on to Raiden’s ankles.

“Yes!” Raiden says, “Can we go to the corn pit before we get food, please?”

“Raid, we need to eat.”

“But I want to go to the corn pit!” Raiden explains his need to go to the corn pit now opposed to later to his sister.

“I’m curious about this corn pit,” Mark insitigates, knowing very well Seren wanted to get food before hand, using the pit as leverage on her brother. “Let’s check it out first.” Raiden throws his hands in the air as Mark agrees with him, Seren shaking her head.

“I don’t stand a chance against you two, huh?”

“Nope.” Mark says, kissing her forehead.

Mark unintentionally gets excited about the corn pit when he sees it, having not known what to really expect. “I was not ready to see a giant box filled with corn that you play in like a ball pit.” He says as he takes off his shoes with Raiden. The two of them get in before Seren does. Raiden trambles in, catching himself as he’s nearly waist deep in. He smiles at Seren, who is waiting for Mark to step in. He looks at Seren. “Is it gonna feel weird? Like, it’s not going to hurt my feet right?”

“You’ll be fine!” Seren laughs, nudging him in a little bit.

“Oh my god this is weird. Oh god, oh no.” Mark stumbles, trying to catch his footing. “It’s worse than sand.” He says as his arms are extended, trying to balance himself. “Oh shit,” He frantically tries to grab at Seren, only barely catching her hand as he falls in, taking her with him. Raiden giggles in excitement as Mark smiles at Seren, who ended up laying beside him. “I panicked.”

She nods. “I can tell.”

They all sit around, Seren smiling at the sight of Mark playfully chasing her brother. He’s not too steady on his feet, which is a funny contrast seeing someone so tall falling over as the five year old is zipping around, unaffected. Seren holds back laughs when he trips over her feet under the corn, him taking hand full and tossing it on her. Raiden comes and aids Mark as they cover Ren up. Raiden sits on Seren as she tries to move, Mark digging himself into the corn beside her.

“What if we left her here, Raid, what do you think?” Mark looks at Raiden, who throws his head back with a laugh.

“You’d never.” Seren pouts at her brother and boyfriend. Jokingly, the two of them take off, leaving Seren to fumble around to try and get up. Mark helps Raiden over the ledge to get out, only to go back and help Seren.

“Of course I’d never.” He helps her up, still unsteady on his feet and they fall back down, Raiden losing it as he watches. Mark kisses Ren, letting her get up on her own this time and getting out.

As they walk around the food, deciding what to get before they start to head home, Seren is fussing with a tired child.

“Raiden, you need to get something you’ll finish. I’ll share cheese fries with you if it’s what you really want.” She has bend down to face him, holding on to his small shoulders.

“But I don't want to share!” Raiden whines, it having been a long day.

“Raid, please. Just work with me here.”

“I’m not sharing.”

“Fine, then you have to finish everything or we…” She looks at Mark, now not having a plan to coax him to cooperate. She squints at him, standing up and whispering. “What can we do to get him to agree?”

Mark bends down, pointing at a small tent behind them. “After we eat, we can go make little tags over there.” He looks at Raiden, raising his eyebrows. “But only if you finish everything.”

Raiden frowns, looking at the tent. “What if I don’t finish?”

“Then we just go home..” Mark pouts at Raiden, exaggerated and Seren smiles to herself. “And I’ll be sad, because I really wanna make one.” Raiden nods, agreeing with Seren to share. They sit and eat, Mark helping himself to the fries as Raiden laughs at him dropping cheese on his shirt. He has Raiden help clean up before they head to the tent Mark had mentioned earlier.

Mark insists he does one by himself, so Seren helps Raiden pound a small pumpkin into the metal tag. Mark is picking out letters, asking for help as he carefully does one at a time. Seren puts Raiden’s on a string and walks over to Mark, who covers his from them. “You can’t look yet, stop.” He laughs. The two of them go and sit. Seren can see how concentrated Mark is, pursing his lips as he looks at what he’s done, nodding, paying and sticking it in his pocket. Raiden had curled up to Seren and fallen asleep in the meantime. She struggles to try and lift him up on to her lap to carry him.

“Hold on, I’ll carry him.” Mark says, gently picking up the sleeping kid. He stirs around, Mark just talks to him softly, telling him to go back to sleep. Raiden nuzzles into Mark, who then puts his free arm around Seren as they walk out.

The two of them put Raiden in his seat, a collective effort to not wake him up. Mark fixes Raiden’s small metal tag necklace before he shuts the door.

He sits down in the driver's seat, looking over at Seren as he laid his head back. “Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me, close them.” Seren takes a deep breath as she shuts her eyes. Mark shifts around, taking the metal tag out of his pocket and placing it in Seren’s hand as he leans in and gives her a kiss. He can feel her smile before he pulls away. “Okay, now look.”

Seren opens her hand to see the small tag in her palm. She flips it around in her fingers for a bit, smiling to herself. “Leaves have fallen and so have I.” She whispers, looking back at Mark and kissing his cheek. “You’re sappy and it’s cute.” Seren does dramatic finger guns at him.

Mark laughs. “Did you just compliment my pun about leaves with one about trees?”

“I may or may not have.” She smiles.

Mark takes her hand, driving off. “I fell for the right person then.”


	10. Little Victories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls of the house want attention. The boys are a bit oblivious.

Seren curled herself into a ball on the couch next to Mark, pouting at him and Johnny as they play a video game, drowning out the world around them. A certain devious glint in her eyes, she cocks her head to the side to have a better view of Cordelia. She is sitting on the opposite side of Johnny, half pouting, half watching something on her phone. Cordy looks up, meeting Ren's eyes and a smile spreads across her face. The boys will pay attention to them whether they like it or not. It starts out with Seren laying her legs across Mark's lap. Cordelia wraps herself around Johnny, weaseling her way under his arm. Both of them adjust to the girls newfound clinginess, but continue on with their game nonetheless. A small frustration bubbles up between the girls.

In the other room, Phoenix and Sicheng are relaxing. The only issue is, Sicheng is glued to his phone. Phoenix normally doesn't mind the stillness of them enjoying each other's company in silence, but today is different. She wants attention and she's gonna get it, one way or another. Her first thought is just to snatch the phone, so that's exactly what she does. Winwin's face scrunched and Nix bolts out of the room and into the living room, much to Ren and Cordy's surprise. Mark and Johnny still are oblivious to the world around them. Nix shares a glance with the other two girls, and the plan has been set into motion.

Athena and Lyn are having a conversation in the kitchen waiting for Taeyong and Doyoung to get home from the store. They see the commotion of the other three couples but seem to be able to zone them out. They're swapping stories about their boys, only to realize they really do miss them. When the door clicks open and they walk in, they're rushed by all the attention. They're hands are still full of bags and they try to continue walking to the kitchen. They're able to set the bags down, which only brings the girls closer to them.

Nix stands in front of the tv, blocking Mark and Johnny's view. She refuses to move when they ask her to, crossing her arms, still holding on to Sicheng's phone. Seren takes the chance to start clicking on Mark's controller, which only makes him swat her hands away in a huff. She grabs the controller and hides it behind her. Mark starts trying to reach around her,but Seren starts to poke at his sides, looking for a spot that's even the slightest bit ticklish. Johnny calls out for Sicheng, who reluctantly saunters out of his and Nix's room to see what his girlfriend is doing.

Cordelia uses a similar tactic to Seren and takes the controller, only to toss it under the couch as Johnny is trying to physically move a stubborn Nix. When Sicheng comes to assist, Johnny gives up and comes back to search for his controller. Codry pretends to help him look, and continues to call him "Suhshine" over and over. Its endearing, Johnny thinks, but he can't help but wonder what she's done with his controller. Sicheng is softly talking to Nix behind them.

Meanwhile, Athena and Lyn are like puppies under their boys feet. The two of them shuffle around trying to put various food items away. Lyn, being the organized person she is, moves whatever Doyoung puts down, giving him a small chuckle as she does so. Athena is clinging to Taeyong, helping him put things away yet still trying to keep his attention on her. Lingering touches of his hands as she takes things from him, he can't help but blush a bit at her.

Suddenly, there is an outburst of laughter from Seren. Repeatedly, she calls out Mark's Korean name as he has given up on trying to reach around her and has picked her up.

"Ren, stop!" He laughs out, holding on to the small person he calls his girlfriend as she wiggles around.

"Aniyo, Makeu! Aniyo!!" She giggles in response as he sets her down. She starts to poke at his chest, saying any phrases she knows in any language she can. Mark laughs, knowing she's not fluent in any of these languages. He finds it cute that she's taken the time to even learn what she has though and places a kiss on her forehead. Seren clings to him, wrapping herself around him and he sits back down on the couch. She cuddles into his neck, smiling to herself. Seren had taken the first win.

Phoenix still holds Winnie's phone hostage as he talks to her, softly and slowly. Nix keeps a straight face, pretending to be a bit upset with the fact that Sicheng was on his phone earlier. Sicheng inches closer to her, smiling to himself as he engulfs her in a hug. Phoenix laughed when he does, slightly pushing him away. He holds on tightly, rocking her back and forth. He coos a few I love yous in his native tongue as he does so. Nix can hear the laugh in his chest, deep, full and happy. She pulls away slightly, handing him his phone back as she does. Winwin takes it, only to put it in his back pocket. He then takes Nix's hand in place of his phone, and sits down on the big lounge chair with her. She rests her head on his chest and he aimlessly traces circles on her arm. They drift off to sleep not to long after. A win for Phoenix.

Johnny has since given up on looking for his game controller and has started to pout. He's even asked Cordy to at least give him the controller back so he can put it away. She continued to insist she has no idea where it was. Johnny shoots her a look, knowing she's lying.

"Suhshine.. really, why do you want the controller so bad?" She teases.

"Cord.. I just want to play my game that's all.." the both of them glanced over at Mark and Seren, who have curled into one another at this point. "I mean, I already lost my gaming buddy.." Johnny looks back at Cordelia with soft puppy eyes.

"I'm gonna kick your ass in Mario Kart." Cordelia says as she reaches under the couch. Then fishes out the other controller from under Mark and Seren, which results in the two of them taking over the couch. Johnny and Cordelia sit on the floor in front of the TV, exchanging loving insults to one another as they race. Cordelia doesn't care if she wins the game, she's already won.

The kitchen, now not in disarray, is filled with a slight bickering between the girls. Playful banter, but you can tell Lyn is being sort of serious as she starts dinner with Doyoung. Athena and Taeyong are gathering themselves supplies to make sundaes. Before having actual food to Lyn and Doyoung's dismay. As Doyoung is cooking, Lyn is wrapped around his waist, nuzzling into his back. He moves around and she shuffles with him as he reaches for spices and other things he needs. Athena goes to grab the ice cream, as Lyn pesters her about not eating too many sweets before they eat actual food. Eventually Lyn gives up, as Athena stares her down scooping out ice cream. As Lyn mixes the stir fry on the stove, Doyoung holds on to her, setting soft kisses in her cheeks as she points around asking him to reach things for her. Giggles burst from Lyn as he can't find what shes asking for because someone had reorganized the cabinets. (It was Seren. Seren had these moments where she would move things around just because). As Lyn continued cooking, Doyoung turned on the speaker nearby and started to play little things. He took Lyn's hand and spun her to face him. Frazzled about burning the food, Lyn kept trying to pull away.

"Its fine, it's fine." Doyoung said, lowering the flame. He continued to slow dance with around the kitchen with her, keeping an eye on the stir fry here and there as well.

The music played softly through out the house, as Athena and Taeyong are making their sundaes. There are various sweets and candies in their ice cream. Chocolate chips, caramel, sprinkles, gummy bears. You name it, they got it. Especially Taeyong. He grabs the cool whip, puts some on his ice cream then dabbing some on Nana's nose. She pouted at him and goes to use her finger to get it off, but Taeyong grabs her hand before she can, kissing her nose to remove it. Athena's face rushes with red as Taeyong does so, using his free hand to put some whip cream on her ice cream and walking away to the living room to sit on the slightly smaller couch. Athena sits next to him and they entangle their legs together as they get comfortable.

Taeyong fondly looks at his friends, all who are happy and content. He eats his ice cream as he scans the room. Winwin half sleeping as all the commotion around him goes about. He is softly looking at a sleeping Nix, cuddled up on his chest. His longest friend sitting on the floor, full laughs between him and Cordelia as they purposely try to distract one another, messing with controllers and getting up to block each other's side of the tv. Mark gently holding Seren’s hand, rubbing his thumb along it as he does, seemingly counting the light freckles along her face. Doyoung smiling as he makes exaggerated dancing moves, which makes Lyn laugh as they cook a meal for everyone. Unknown to Taeyong himself, Athena is watching him as a smile is glued on his face. Athena leans in and pecks his cheek, drawing him out of his thoughts, only making his smile grow bigger.

Bubbly starts to play through the speaker that Doyoung is hooked up to, and Taeyong softly sings “You make me smile, please stay for a while”. He smiles again, humming along for a little while longer. He tucks Nana’s hair behind her ear and smile cracks a smile as she sings “When you kiss my nose, the feeling shows” to him. He takes their bowls and sets them down on the coffee table, then tackles her to the couch just to kiss her nose one more time.

All of the girls had gotten the attention they were seeking all day, a small victory for each of them. And even though the boys had had their own plans for the day, they wouldn’t have had spent the day any different. In the end, everyone had won. Except Johnny. Cordelia actually kicked his ass in Mario Kart.


	11. Serendipity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Johnny wants to go for a car ride and has no real destination in mind. He ends up finding one anyway.

Johnny does a head count and continues his pouting from earlier. None of them understand how such a large man could sulk into such a small slump on the couch.

"Cordy.." Athena laughs, lifting her head from Taeyong's shoulder and points to Johnny.

Cordelia rolls her eyes, excusing herself for the conversation and getting up from the kitchen table with Mama Suh and plops down next to Johnny.

"Suhshine.. you've been pouting for like 3 hours."

Johnny shifts his body and extends his legs outward, sliding down the couch even more. "There isn't enough room in the car for all of us." He mumbles.

Athena and Taeyong are now watching Johnny throw his fit. Still, nobody knows how a man of such size can be such a big baby. Cordelia grows more and more flustered because he won't let her say her sentence. Johnny's whining and various noises catch Mark and Seren's attention at this point too. Soon enough, all of them are in the living room again staring at Johnny. He looks like he's ready to cry. Cordy looks like she's about to throw him out of a window if he doesn't stop.

"Hyung, what did you want to do?" Mark speaks up, getting fidgety from the weird silence and lack of conversation.

Johnny continues to mumble to the point no one can hear him until Cordelia whacks his arm. "OW! FINE!" Johnny starts. Taeyong let's out a laugh at Johnny's reaction. "I wanted to go for a ride but there's too many of us." He counts again to make sure he was right the first time and purses his lips when he realizes the number hasn't changed.

"Someone can sit on someone's lap." Athena suggests. Almost in unison, Johnny's head snaps up and everyone turns to Seren, who has zoned out on her phone. Mark taps on her thigh to get her attention and rests his hand there as he talks. "C'mon, let's go. We're going for a ride. Johnny is driving."

All of them throw on sweaters and shoes. Taeyong puts his arm around Athena and pulls her close. Johnny pesters Cordelia as they walk out the door, and Mark locks his pinky with Seren's so he can still manage to close the door behind him. Soon enough, Seren realizes that everyone piled into the car and there isn't an _actual_ seat to sit in. Standing there, Mark pats his lap with a cheesy grin.

"I didn't sign up for this." She crosses her arms, looking at the rest of them in the car as Mark throws his head back letting out a laugh.

"You signed up for it when you started dating him…" Athena calls from the opposite side of the car, leaning over Taeyong, who's stuck in the middle seat. Reluctantly, Seren climbs in.

Johnny driving is smooth. After all this time he still remembers how to avoid the pesky pot holes scattered all over American roads.There's no real destination in his head; he just wanted to drive and listen to music with the people he cares about. Taeyong takes control over the music, and much to no one's surprise, a string of soft, relaxing songs play through the speakers. Some happy, some sad, but over all most of them being love songs. The cool night air comes through the rolled down windows and the warm yellow light of the street lamps cast soft shadows.

Athena took residence on Taeyong's shoulder. He runs his hand through her hair gently, settling small kisses on the top of her head. He hums soothingly along to Lucky by Jason Marz. Johnny has one hand on the steering wheel, and his free hand tangled with Cordelia's. She doesn't look at him but out the window watching the world pass by, yet she has a soft smile on her face. Johnny is grinning from ear to ear. Mark wrapped his arms around Seren's waist, taking full advantage of the fact that she is sitting on his lap and pulled her closer to him. His head rests in the crook of her neck. She could feel the rumble in his chest as he hummed along as well. The moment is still, soft, blissful. Almost as if everything around them has stopped and it's just the six of them, all in their individual worlds but together at the same time.

The song then shifts to a far more upbeat song and suddenly Johnny turns around to belt out "I'M COMING OUT OF MY CAGE" and starts to head bang. This sends Cordelia into an outburst of laughter as the other two boys join in. Seren squirms as Mark's singing close to her ear, Taeyong rests his head back as not to be obnoxious in Athena's, only making a few movements to emphasize certain words at her. Purposeful off key singing and giggles fill the space between them as they continue to drive. Johnny realizes that he did have a destination in mind after all: Home. And he was already there.


	12. Give me Therapy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Serenity has an episode. Mark helps the best he can.

“Ren, slow down.” Mark calls from the bed as Seren is fumbling through the mess of papers she ended up creating. She doesn’t hear him talking. “You’re not gonna be able to organize it if you keep flipping through the same things over and over…” He takes a deep breath in as he leans over the bed to grab Seren’s arm. “Hey, look at me.”

Ren snaps out of it and turns to Mark, her face flustered and red and her eyes welled with tears. Mark gets up off the bed to sit down next to her and pulled her close to him. She curls into his chest and he can feel the tears on his shirt. He doesn’t say anything though. They sit for what seems like a few hours and Mark gently cradles Seren as he rests her in bed. He tucks her hair out of her face as she’s sleeping. He’s only seen her like this a handful of times, but he knows what’s happening.

The next few days are a mess of emotion.

One day Seren goes to the kitchen while everyone is out and takes everything out of the cabinets and reorganizes it all. She climbs on counters and feverishly jumps around as she is deciding what things need to go where. Even though things were right where they were supposed to be. There needed to be a change, or else it would drive Seren nuts. Mark assisted her, holding her softly when she needed to get off the counters, placing things up high for her, because that particular thing just had to go on the top shelf. When something was off, Seren would throw her head back and run her hands over her face. Every time, Mark would be there to tell her that it looked fine, but if it needed to be moved he would help her. He’d pull her aside to make sure she had eaten. He cooked the meal, even if it wasn’t the most elaborate thing, just to make sure she didn’t run on fumes. He assured everyone that she was okay when they get home and she was already asleep.

Next she cleans the whole house. She dusts, mobs, vacuums. The kitchen is spotless and the bathrooms look cleaner than they did when they moved in. Mark sticks close by to her, knowing that at any moment she can get overwhelmed. She’s on a quest to ease her mind and he wishes she had another way to do so, but he hasn’t figured out how to help her more. He stops her when she tries to go about and fix all the picture frames that are scattered on the walls, sitting her down to talk to her. He knows her mind is racing, but he remembers her saying someone talking about something else can distract her from being so frantic. He talks to her softly, focused on her breathing as she starts to take a few more fuller breaths. He sees how tired she is and lays down with her on the couch, pulling her onto his chest. Humming softly so she can hear the rumble of his voice as she laid there. He doesn’t move for the night, and he doesn’t sleep all too well either. As long as Seren was sleeping, he was okay with it.

She gets fixated on one task and will agonize over it for hours. Mark knows he can’t snap her out of it sometimes, so he patiently waits until she addresses him. She started looking through their room and would sit and flip through old notebooks. She couldn’t throw them out on her own, and tries to find reasons for Mark to let her keep them. He talks her through keeping pages she likes, and tossing the rest. She gets caught up in reading old diaries, reliving some of the moments in her past. Mark lets her ramble to him about the entries. When she snaps out of that, she realizes the mess she’s made with no sort of progress in cleaning and starts to panic. Mark can see her chest fall deep and quick so he takes her hand to give her a different sensation to focus on. Seren looks at him wide eyes and near tears.

“I’m sorry..” She whispers, shifting her weight.

“No, I am. I wish I could help more..” Mark rubs his thumbs on her hands, knowing it's comforting to her. She inches closer to him, curling on to his lap. He nuzzles into her, leaning back on the bed to lay down. For the night, she feels back to normal. Mark knows the worst part is just around the corner.

She starts to sleep in for longer periods of time. She doesn’t change out of her pajamas and stops doing her daily routine. Mark checks on her every hour or so, most of the time seeing her sitting around staring into space or sleeping. He crawls into bed beside her and talks to her, even though she’s not talking back to him. He feels a pain in his chest and he swallows back tears. He’s worried. He knows this passes, but every time it happens, he worries. She’ll get up and wander into the kitchen, grab a snack and sit and eat slowly. Mark shoots a look at anyone who tries to say anything to her, knowing that she doesn’t want to talk. Each night he holds Seren close, making sure to let her know he isn’t going anywhere, even when she’s like this. He sleeps lightly, wanting to be able to wake up when Seren starts to toss and turn. Even in sleep, sometimes she can’t catch a break. Mark is tired, but he wants to be there to help her.

When Seren sleeps the day away, Mark knows he can’t do this alone anymore. It’s the last straw when she refuses food. He calls up Jungwoo, who has dealt with these episodes before, to come and see if he can help him. Jungwoo consuls an exhausted Mark, telling him that this passes, even though he already knows this. Jungwoo lets him know that he just wants to remind Mark, because he knows how worried he is. He’s been in Mark’s shoes, as her best friend. He can’t imagine how he feels being her boyfriend.

“Have you brought up therapy?” Jungwoo hums, biting the inside of his lip.

“She gets nervous thinking about it.” Mark replies, sighing. “I just want her to be able to have something to focus on. These episodes happen when I’m home but what happens if one happens when we’re not here?” Mark’s tired eyes well with tears when he thinks about her dealing with it alone.

“What about another pet?” Jungwoo suggests. Mark looks up, pressing his hands under his eyes to stop himself from crying. He had thought about it before. He knows that Seren loves dogs and gets excited about them when she sees them on the streets, even though Blu is home. But he also knows she’s wanted a kitten of her own since she had to leave her cat. The house was pretty full, but cat may not be too much of a hassle to accommodate.

Mark nods his head. “Yeah, maybe.” He nods again, looking at Jungwoo, “Do you think you can stay with Ren? I’m gonna go and talk to everyone else about it.”

Mark runs around trying to catch everyone when they aren’t super busy. Taeyong is fine with it, he loves animals, so the more, the merrier. Winwin is excited, Doyoung is happy to be able to pet this one without it toppling him over and Johnny is pretty ecstatic. Mark didn’t tell them how worried about Seren he is sometimes, as not to worry them too. He knows they know she has these episodes, but he doesn’t know how much she’s told them. She tends to keep it to herself. It took her over a year to confide in him about them. He rested for a bit outside and texts the girls to make sure they’re all okay with it too, even though he knows all of them will be. He takes a second to sit for himself. He tries to not get overwhelmed with emotion when this happens. It’s hard on him sometimes, but he never thinks about quitting. He’s willing to be there for her during these stages for the rest of his life.

Getting home, Jungwoo has been able to draw Seren out of her room for the first time in a day or so. Mark lets out a small, shaky sigh seeing her sitting there, hair a mess, his baggy shirt hanging off her shoulder, feet up on the bar stool, knees to her chest. Her heavy eyes shift from Jungwoo to Mark as he walks into the kitchen. Her expression softens, giving a small smile. Mark smiles back, putting his hand behind her head and pressing his lips on her forehead. He pulls back and rested his forehead on hers. He closes his eyes and stays there for a second. “How are you feeling today, love?” He speaks softly.

Seren nods, feeling a bit more like her normal self, just far more tired. “Where did you go?” She questions, her voice quiet, not for any other reason but the fact that she was surprised to see Jungwoo here when she woke up. Mark knows she worries when he leaves.

“I had to ask everyone an important question.” He Looks at Jungwoo, “Thanks for staying with her, it went well.”

Jungwoo gets up form where he’s sitting, giving the other two a hug. “Good, I’m glad. Mine and Ren’s conversation went well too.” He smiles at her and she smiles back, nodding knowing she’ll have to talk to Mark about it too. “I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Woo says, as he walks towards the door.

“Thanks again.” Mark calls back to him.

“No problem, I love you guys!” Jungwoo says as he shuts the door behind him.

“Therapy.. I’ll try going..” Seren says, before Mark can even turn around and look at her.

“Really?” He sits across from her, taking her hands into his across the table. “Jungwoo was about to get you to talk about it, I see.” He’s not surprised. Jungwoo had a way with Seren that sometimes he couldn’t understand. Maybe it was because he was so soft spoken, she never felt threatened by his suggestions.

“Will you go with me? When I ask the doctor for a referral?” Seren’s voice is shaky, and Mark gets up, holding on to her.

“Of course.” He kisses her forehead again, then rests his chin on her head. “I’ll go with you then I think I know the perfect thing to do after.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Seren makes an appointment to go and talk to her doctor and Mark is by her side throughout the whole process. Talking on the phone, reassuring her that what she’s saying is making sense. Walking into the doctor's office, hand in hand, making sure she knows he’s right there and that she isn’t doing this alone. His hand rests on her knee when she starts to talk and bounce her leg in the room. She grabs on to his index finger when he does, looking at the doctor as he asks her questions. She was nervous, but having Mark there made her thoughts stay in line. When they walk out, Mark kisses Seren’s cheek.

“I’m proud of you..” He whispers, kissing her again. “Now that that’s done, let’s go look at the kittens at the shelter.”

Seren smiles and her eyes light up. She had worked at the shelter a few times before, and loved going to see the animals and it made her heart warm when one of the long time residents got adopted. Mark still hadn’t told her she was going to be talking one home by the end of their visit.

He had looked at the listings the few days prior to the doctor’s appointment, and he noticed how quickly the kittens came and went. Every time he went on to see if a particular one he liked was still there, it would be gone. Then he saw the perfect cat. He knew Seren would love him, so he filled an application on line and he was ready to come home with them. When they got to the shelter, Seren took her time looking around. She said hello to some of the dogs she remembered, talked to a few old coworkers (Which mark hushed before they spoiled the surprise), and finally went into the cat room after about a half hour. Mark bit back a smile when he saw the small cat in his cage at the end of the room.

Seren said hello to each one, giving them impromptu nicknames as they rubbed against the grates of the doors. She’d point out names, giggle at some of the cute ways the workers had personified them in the I.D. cards and smacked at Mark’s legs a few times when she was on the lower cages. Then, Seren found him. The small grey and white little cat, tucked in his bed. One ear had a small notch in it and the other was slightly flopped over. Mark was almost positive Seren was about to start crying when she saw him. “Oh, Mark I want to hold him..” She cooed, looking at his I.D.

“Why don’t you ask?” Mark smiled, knowing what was going to happen.

Seren pouted, pointing to the small slip of paper on the cage, covering the small creatures name, that said in large letters ADOPTED. “He’s got a home, I don’t want to get attached.”

“Well that’s a shame..” Mark started, looking at Seren, who has now sat on the floor, sticking her fingers through the openings of the cage to pet the cat. “He might get lonely at home if you don’t get attached to him..”

“What?” Seren shoots a look at Mark, eyes wide with excitement, “Please don’t say sike.”

“Nope. Asher is ours to take home.”

“Asher?” Seren says, now taking the ADOPTED tag off to look at his name. “That’s not what this says.”

“I know, I chose a new name for him.”

Mark calls someone over to get the cat out and they get all ready and head out with Seren’s new friend, and the first animal that they’ve gotten together. In the car, Seren turns to Mark. “What’s his name mean?” She knows there’s a reason, and she knows she’s right when a big smile runs across his face.

“Happiness.”


End file.
